It was late one fall night at a fairground near town
When Esther first saw the Armenian man
Who groveled toward her and stood by her side

With a bucket that swung in his hand

His grin stretched the folds of his pasty white cheeks

And his lips hurled a dollop of murk on the curb
And the lights from the rides showed a mischievous sparkle
That flashed in his hollow eyed stare


He said "Little girl, you can chop off my legs
And then peel off my socks if you want to.

But I'd rather you took this old puppet from me
That I hold in my pail as we speak."


And he stood looking down at the innocent girl
And she stared at the bucket bewildered
Til he lifted the doll for the young girl to see

And a giant smile grew on his face
She saw the doll's eyes and she couldn't resist
And she thanked the man quickly and ran to the church

And she burst through the door with puppet held high
And a hush filled the chapel, and the people looked mean


Esther tried in vain to pacify the mob
Quibble grew to spat, to wrangle, then to brawl
The frenzied congregation struggled desperately to fetch

The pretty puppet snugly nestled deep in Esther's leather
sack
Through the window of the church a storm began to rage

And Esther knew the time had come to flee

She scurried down the aisle toward the doorway in the

distance
And out into the rainstorm where she felt she would be free
But the wind was blowing harder

And her skirt began to billow
Until finally her feet began to lift


And she rose above the people and the houses
and the chimneys
And Esther and the doll were set adrift

Floating higher over the hills, and the valleys and treetops
they'd flutter and glide
Soaring and turning suspended on air

With the earth far below them they'd tumble
And dive through the clouds


And she began to plummet earthward till she
Landed in the nasty part of town


She glanced about the village sure to find the evil men
Who rob and pillage in the darkest hour of night
Nervously she fumbled for the pouch that held the

Puppet on her rump.

Feeling quite outnumbered Esther hid behind

A nearby pile of lumber, where she waited
Till the dawn
Cause it would have been a blunder to

Succumb to a hoodlum on the prowl

When the morning came, she wandered through the streets

Along the chilly lake that lay beside the town
At last a peaceful moment, but she thought she heard a sound
It was an angry mob of joggers coming up to knock her down


As Esther stood and shook her head
The joggers were approaching

And she knew she had no choice left but to swim
As the frosty water sank its bitter teeth into her hide
She tried to slide the heavy clothing from her skin


Naked now she made her way toward the shore
When suddenly she felt a tiny tugging at her toe.

And the puppet she'd forgotten wrapped its tiny
Little arms around her ankle and wouldn't let her go.

The waves seemed to open and swallow her whole
As the doll pulled her down through the eerie green deep

And the sound of the laughing old man filled her ears
As she drifted away to a tranquil
And motionless sleep.