On a very sad day for Lindendale,
Into town an apprentice archer sailed.
For although Gorian tried as hard as he could,
Nothing worked the way he thought it would.

Thinking to earn a bit of gold,
He tried to make arrows to be sold.
His best made the townsfolk laugh,
As three day work made a single shaft.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

Realizing fletching his purse won't fill,
Gorian tries his hunting skill.
But having been bred within a town,
A forest he doesn't know his way around.

He puts his tracking to the test,
Seeking venison in a game-laden forest.
Stealthily passing a glade full of deer,
He finally shoots two scrawny hare.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

Heartened by killing the two rabbit runts,
Gorian returned next day to the hunt.
Early morning saw him on his way,
Into the forest to spend the whole day.

Distracted by the unfamiliar flora,
Gorian didn't see that fauna before him.
Standing on a well-used game trail,
The only animal he sees is a snail.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

The forest animals soon gather around,
To watch this clumsy archer from the town.
Squirrels around and above Gorian giggle,
As watching rabbits let their noses wiggle.

Poor Gorian behind him does not see,
The buck's antlers like branches of a tree.
Finally, venison his arrow hits;
A poor old doe in a laughing fit.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

Deciding the forest is empty of game,
He thinks to earn money from the village dames.
Figuring his feet hold his best chance,
He offers to teach the maidens to dance.

Seeking out each likely pretty,
He offers to teach the dance of the city.
A few coppers is all he earns that day,
As a few maids pay him to go away.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

Up early next morning he seeks again,
To use his feet his fortune to win.
That day he finds one gentle maid,
Willing to see the elven archer well paid.

She hires Gorian for his fair face,
Seeking to teach her suitor his place.
Gorian's position is not one to relish
As she makes her boyfriend jealous.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.

The girl's silver wasn't all Gorian got,
There was also the bruise from the suitor's fist shot.
Realizing no profit from twinkling toes,
Back to the forest, Gorian goes.

Shooting an arrow into the next "deer" he sees,
He breaks the shaft as it hits the fallen tree.
Disgusted and broke, Gorian goes on his way,
Leaving Lindendale's folk all happy and gay.

Stumbling through the dark,
The apprentice archer misses the mark.