Scott Andrew Bailey – Author

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Jiggly was a little worm
A cheery sort of fellow
But whenever somebody brushed his skin
He would yowl and howl and bellow

For you see poor old jiggly
Was a ticklish kind of chap
The slightest touch had him laughing so much
That his head was all of a flap

So he asked all his friends to help him
Get over his terrible curse
Before he drove them all mad with laughter
Could they his affliction reverse

The sheep all got together
And knitted a long woollen coat
The wool was too itchy for his tender skin
And the fur got stuck in his throat

The spiders spun him a shirt
Of the finest silken web
But he ended up sliding all over the place
And his spirits lower did ebb

The mice they wrapped him up tightly
In leathery leaves from the ground
But they bound him so tight that he took a fright
And rolled all around and around

The parrots extracted some rubber
From the heart of the rubber tree
Then coated him with a thin smooth layer
Which fitted as well as could be

Now the young worm was happy
He could play with his friends at last
But as he wriggled among them quite happy
Their faces all looked so downcast

For they missed the wonderful laughter
Of the wriggly giggly worm
That filled their glum days in magical ways
Like a good but infectious germ

So he cast of his new rubber skin
Baring his own to the air
And everyone tickled the giggly worm
And jiggled and laughed without care

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams