(tune: "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island" [first season version; to listen, click on first "play audio" link
here])
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from an icy moon
On this humongous ship.
Now sure and skilled the pilot was
Yet he could scarce control
The Long Shot's speed thru hyperspace
To an uncharted goal.
AN UNCHARTED GOAL.
The Puppeteers' own Fleet of Worlds
Was their first port of call.
The Lying Bastard, their new ship,
Was hardly armed at all.
WAS HARDLY ARMED AT ALL. (Hah!)
The meteor defense laser blazed,
The ship's wing was the cost.
If not for the magic of the stasis field
The Liar would be lost.
THE LIAR WOULD BE LOST.
The ship's aground on the Ringworld floor
The biggest world in space.
With Louis Wu, and Speaker too.
A Puppeteer who is mad,
And innocent
Teela Brown*
Are here on Niven's Ringworld!
*note the tune here for "And innocent Teela Brown" is the first season's "A movie star, and the rest", not the later "A movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann".
Permission is hereby granted to copy the above lyrics for personal (non-commercial) use, so long as this website
<news.larryniven.net/concordance> is credited, and the words are not changed. And if you add your own verses, please e-mail me a copy!
—"Lensman"
