View source for Art:Year of the Monkey Chanties

'''Year of the Monkey Chanties''' was the first familiar event on the [[Midnight Ocean]].  Participants were given just over one day to create and post a chanty of any form to the Y!PP [[Forums]].  The only restriction was that the chanties must be about monkies.

[[Pokey]] won a brown monkey for his effort{{fn|1=http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=63950#63950}}, reproduced in its entirety below.  [[Jellomold]] took the runner up prize for including an audio file{{fn|http://www.lionsgate.com/home/minstrels/monkey.mp3}} of him singing his own chanty{{fn|1=http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=63937#63937}}.

= Pokey's Winning Entry = 
'''Chimp and She'''

The pirate sought the seven seas and so to Coral cruised,<br>
her pockets empty, heart still brave, her sword-arm scarcely used.<br>
Of life's red dawn she drank her fill, and yet could be accused,<br>
of longing for companionship, on which she thusly mused:<br>
"Why don't I find a parrot friend to keep myself enthused?"<br>

And so she told a parrot of the bounty of the sea,<br>
"You'll see the world in style if you come along with me,<br>
we'll loot by sea and see the loot comes in abundantly,<br>
We'll whistle chanties pleasantly and keep each other near the key<br>
and most of all together we will live from care and fetter free!"<br>

The parrot said, "Why should I care for fortune or for fame?<br>
I need no sword, and as for clothes, my disdain is the same.<br>
My plumage suits me better than that low cut suits you, dame,"<br>
she squawked, then took flight from her perch toward which the ale mug came,<br>
"and most of all, with wings like these, I never need be tame."<br>
The lass scowled wide and pulled her bodice closer to her frame.<br>

The pirate saw the seven seas and then to Ruby sailed,<br>
well-salted now and stocked with gold from brigands she had felled,<br>
a wayward wench with nerves of steel but heartstrings more like weld,<br>
whose resolution ne'er to love so resolutely held,<br>
she softened when an octopus behind her cutter trailed.<br>

"O octopus," she gently cooed, "you'll never leave me blue,<br>
O gentle prince of mollusks twice times four times nobly true,<br>
You'll help me open up my rum and handsome sailors woo,<br>
and though I haven't any clue about your intake of O2<br>
I'm sure that you'll enjoy the view, so won't you think my offer through?"<br>

The octopus bobbed in the brine and looked her in the eye,<br>
considered sixteen viewpoints and at last made his reply.<br>
"Although," he burbled, "it is true I long to touch the sky,<br>
A life of crime with quadrupeds? 'Twould make my mother cry."<br>
Said she, "Well, then I've got some clothes that I would like to dye,"<br>
But 'neath the waves he ducked before she let her poniard fly.<br>

The pirate swept the seven seas and then to Emerald flew,<br>
and tried to pick herself a man from your unsightly crew.<br>
For violence this part's been excised, but just so you aren't scandalized,<br>
his wounds were thoroughly cauterized, and one eye's good as two.<br>

The pirate feared in seven seas now plundered Sapphire shores,<br>
swashbuckleress illustrious with followers in scores,<br>
hoarse whispering death, the landsmen said (from behind bolted doors)<br>
but one last time she parted from her solitary mores<br>
aforaging the Horseshoe Crabs between successful wars.<br>

"My primate mate," she said, "I will not gild the lily much,<br>
I've always seen my kith and kin as something of a crutch,<br>
I dearly love the life I've led, estranged and out of touch;<br>
strange as it seems, I seem to need no confidant, as such."<br>

"You're out of whack," the monkey said, expecting fireworks to come.<br>
But time and tide had tempered temper and she took him quite aback.<br>
"Just share my rum." She offered some. "My drink's arrack," said monkey back,<br>
"but as I sorely feel the lack I think I'll see what's in that sack."<br>

The pirate loved in seven seas in Opal waters sat,<br>
nearing her end, the final leg, her lifetime's soft sunset,<br>
Elysian few she hoped to join; for Norse, the course was set.<br>
Her legacy was strength and kindness; independence, yet<br>
an openness to drink and friends that left her no regret.<br>
As her first friend, I make this toast; now get your gullets wet.<br>
And never say a chimpanzee can't rhyme a mean couplet.<br>

= Jellomold's Entry =
'''The Cursed Treasure of the Monkey Ship The Blathering Wit'''

This tail begins in a far away land<br>
On an ocean deep and blue<br>
On a mythical ship called the Blathering Wit<br>
Sailed by a monkey crew<br>
<br>
The story be told she be laden with gold<br>
pillaged off the Santa Anna<br>
But if rumour be true I say me to you<br>
Be it a bunch o bananas<br>
<br>
She anchored herself in Simians Cove<br>
Off the island of Makak<br>
The treasure be buried at the top of a hill<br>
That be known as the Monkey's Back<br>
<br>
They say that that place there once lived a race<br>
Of primates wearing bandanas<br>
But if rumour be true I say me to you<br>
It be a bunch o bananas<br>
<br>
Now listen me matey and listen real good<br>
A curse protects that booty<br>
The last poor pirate that laid his eyes on it<br>
Returned a little fruity<br>
<br>
The changes had already started to happen<br>
There's nothing we could do<br>
A terrible sight<br>
The price that he paid is now<br>
He's a monkey too<br>
<br>
I'm told I'm a loon for telling this tale<br>
That I'm the rump of a llama<br>
But if rumour be true I say me to you<br>
Be it a bunch o bananas<br>



= External Links =
* [http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=63723#63723 Contest Announcement post]
* [http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=64233#64233 Announcement of winners]

[[Category:Forum events|Year of the Monkey Chanties]]