There was small wooden house
At the edge of the green
It was there, yet it wasn’t
For it never was seen

Save by two little laddies
Who came by the way
And traipsed ‘long the pathway
One crisp autumn day

I’d quote here their title’s
But bound I must be
For I vowed long ago
To my grave they might be

But their naming aside
I must tell you a tale
A disturbing account
In which myst’ry prevails

Twasn’t odd, their behavior
The glance through the pane
The knock on the door
Or the step through it’s way

Their curious natures
Betrayed them that day
Those two little laddies
Who came ‘long the way

But here is the detail
It vexes me still
For when one dared enter
He never returned

Only one little laddie
Escaped home that fall
And nothing was heard
Of the other at all

It seemed that that old house
Had swallowed him whole
Swept him into the shadows
That claimed him their own

The lesson is this
If it ever be seen
Beware the small house
At the edge of the green