There was a land I once heard tell 'Twas christened Mushroom Down The folk who lived there loved it well And never left their town They stayed there from the hour of birth Until the day they died They never cared for any earth Except their Mushroom pride They made their homes beneath the caps Of fungi wide and tall And when time came for tea perhaps A neighbor came to call And while they sat in shade serene And offered cream and cakes They talked of things they'd never seen Beyond the Mushroom lakes They did not wish to journey there They were contented so But past the mossy banks somewhere Lie what they did not know More curious they grew by day And still more so by night They wondered if there were away To take a Mushroom flight Tormented by this new desire More restless they became And many began to conspire On blueprints for a frame A brilliant flying vehicle Of mushroom caps and string One gent proved astronautical And built the very thing And so the day arrived at last On which the plane should board The celebration went far past What they could best afford But they were folks of merry ways And when the kegs were drained In unison arose their gaze And on the stroke --- it rained Now in the hist'ry of the town No soul had ever seen A flood the likes of which poured down Upon the Mushroom Green A gathering was held betwixt The elders late that night And even their votes were unmixed: "We must postpone the flight!" The disappointment through the land Was more than some could bear For their own world, once thought so grand, They did no longer care To say the least it was a shame To see the people act As though they'd lost their hope, their flame When their poor plans were sacked But still the rain continued on For more than fifty days Their mushroom store was almost gone They dreamt of sunshine rays And that's when they began to cease Their thoughts of other towns If only this storm would decrease They'd cherish Mushroom Downs That night was spent in blackness deep No star was seen to shine But when the morning broke their sleep They saw a sight divine The rain was nowhere to be found The sky was fresh and clear Hurrahs of joy for miles around Were all that one could hear And what is more, the earth had sprung New mushrooms overnight And many hymns of praise were sung And no one spoke of flight And so at last the ballad ends With happiness sublime And so the story goes, my friends That is, until next time