A bit longer post than usual today. This was/is my attempt at a children’s book designed to teach kids about synonyms: words that sound the same but have different meanings. Enjoy.

Skate Knight

Young Nate was a knight
Who would skate after dark
In the night he would skate, yes he would
He would skate from his gate
Down the hill past the grate
Which he passed on a gadget he’d made out of wood
The maid helped him make the great gadget of wood

The wood was old beech
From an oar they had found
In a boat at the beach by the sea
An old ore cart provided
Four wheels that glided
And made the creation quite something to see
Not fancy or fine but still something to see

These big iron wheels
Had springs in between
To help them to bounce and to roll
From the tip to the tail
Ran two springy rails
That let Nathan steer and keep things in control
Which of course meant they played a significant role

Never bored when he rode
On this board with no brake
Nathan thrilled at his dangerous feat
At speeds that would break him
It still didn’t shake him
If it looked like he’d crash he could jump to his feet
Like a toad landing safely on steel toed feet

Every night down the hill
He would race through the mist
Through the fog that the wind sometimes blew
Still he missed every hole
The whole way to his goal
For the sight was not new to his eyes of bright blue
It was surely a site that his eyes of blue knew

At the end of the road
(And the end of the fun)
Was an inn that was owned by his aunt
Every night she’d yell, “Cease!”
“Will you give me no peace?”
“If you crash every piece will be small as an ant!”
“Ride your horse. It is safe. And don’t tell me you can’t.”

Then young Nate would reply
With a gleam in his eye
“Now, there’s no need to fret like a nun.”
“You will yell yourself hoarse”
“I am quite safe of course”
“You’ve no cause to be coarse with me auntie dear, none.”
“Besides this goes faster than horses can run.”

So night after night
Every night the same way
The poor lady would pour out her pleas
Voice ringing in mourning
Hands wringing ‘til morning
She never thought once to ask nice and say “please”
Instead she spent most every night on her knees

Well, the fateful night came
Out of nowhere it seemed
Just the way fateful nights often do
When the hour was right
Out skated our knight
But the price of his dangerous daring was due
He would pay it before he saw dawn’s morning dew

Down the first hill he soared
Like a sword straight and true
To the grate and the bridge at the creek
And just ere he got there
He launched a huge air
When he landed his springs gave a terrible a creak
Only one week before he had thought them too weak!!!

For the very first time
Nate felt fear in his soul
One sole moment he froze in a daze
If he finally crashed
Then his board would be trashed
And he didn’t want that in the worstest of ways
For tonight was a night he’d been planning for days!!

He’d invented a trick
That tonight he would try
And tonight that new trick would be thrown
So our young cavalier
Paid no heed to his fear
And he chose then and there to be brave to the bone
He would face down his fears like a king on his throne

He threw caution away
And raced down through the town
Gaining speed he bent low at the waist
Yes, tonight he would land it
The Back-side Knight Bandit
“If I don’t”, Nathan thought, “then this night is a waste”
“Holy Cow, land it dude or it’s wholly a waste.”

Not pale or nervous
He jumped a large pail
The rushing wind started to whine
Laughter filling the air
He kick flipped a stair
Then he grinded the rail on a wagon of wine
From the cellar the seller stared up at his wine

Nathan’s hair stood on end
As he turned toward the Inn
Going fast as a hare at full speed
When his aunt shouted,” Hey”
Nathan looked down her way
And saw that the yard was quite crowded indeed
It was all full of animals, hay bales and feed!!

Nathan took in the scene
And then almost cried
For he knew that his night had gone foul
His aunt, the town crier
A nun and a friar
Were all chasing two ewes and a flock of wild fowl
You’d cry too if you’d seen all those fowl on the prowl

With no brakes and no choice
He sped into the yard
Where he tried for the Back-side Knight Bandit
Just missing the friar
Nate took a huge flyer
And soared through the air different than he had planned it
HIS backside would be sore when they caught him and tanned it.

When he hit a hay bale
He smiled at his luck
Still hoping to survive this mess
He thought he had won
Then the hay hit the nun
And she let out a terrible cry of distress
This was the worst bail he had had was his guess

Well the friar came running
To help the poor nun
As another wail came from the sister
Tripping over a fryer
He too took a flyer
For he’d tripped on his shoes and had only just missed her
With a whale of a dive he had just about squished her!!

The town crier chuckled
Then he pointed and laughed
When the chickens quite suddenly flew!
They tried to avoid him
Which nearly destroyed him
Then a ewe with the flu sent a mess his way too
And the scent of that mess made him holler “P-EEEWWW”!!!

When up out of the reek
And the stench came Nate’s aunt
Like a bear rising up from her knees
She could bare it no more
So she let out a roar
Making everyone there almost instantly freeze
“You will wreak no more havoc tonight Nathan. PLEASE!!”

Nathan’s aunt was as mad
As an angry bee hive
When she hauled him back onto his feet
Pulling him in her train
By a handful of mane
Back to the main hall of the inn to be beat
His poor aunt was so mad she was red as a beet

Now there’s no need to know
What his punishment was
For you know that it had to be bad
And for four months and more
Nathan did extra chores
For his aunt and the nun and the friar and his dad
He did every last chore that the lot of them had

And the gadget of wood?
It was given away
To a man who sold whistles and lutes
Nathan’s night skating fun
Was all over and done
Down the road Nathan rode on a horse called Old Toots

That was only until he fit wheels on his boots!!!

How many synonyms did you find?