Improving the carols

The music master peered at one girl, then the other, until they both lowered their heads and squirmed in discomfort.

“What do you have to say for yourselves?” he demanded.

“Nothing, sir.” “Sorry, sir.”

“Hmm. Do you think you are the first to invent silly lyrics for Christmas carols? You are not. I have heard them all, girls, and yours are not any wittier or cleverer than your predecessors’. Always the same silly jokes.”

He sighed and shook his head, picking up a ruler. “And always the same punishment, too. Hold out your hands, both of you.”

The girls exchanged a forlorn glance. There was little comfort in sharing this predicament with a friend. Secretly, each of them thought that their improved carol lyrics were a lot better than what the previous generations of schoolgirls might have come up with, but they weren’t about to argue the point.

“Hands, now!” the choirmaster snapped.

Two pairs of palms were offered up for punishment. The ruler cracked down on each in turn, from left to right, and again, from right to left, each slap followed by the pained hiss. The teacher continued until the hisses turned into yelps, and until he could see a glimmer of tears in the eyes of both of the miscreants.

“Now the pair of you can sit at your desks and write out the proper lyrics to “When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night.” Five times each. I will be assessing your spelling and handwriting.”

“Yes, sir.” “Yes, *sniff* sir.”

He sighed. Another Christmas, another carol concert – he could count his years at the school by the copies of written our carols gathering up in his desk drawer.

——-

Today was supposed to be the Lowewood Academy nativity and carol concert, but it got cancelled because of snow. Nothing like this was likely to happen, of course – we would never even think of singing wrong words for the carols. Never!