Mister rabbit stood
At the Old Wishing Well
And wished that he had
A bushy long tail.

He threw in some nickels
And pennies and dimes
And wished a hundred
And twenty-three times.

He spent all the money
He had to buy food,
Which had gotten him in
A terribly bad mood.

Why hadn’t he noticed
The sign by the stairs?
“The Old Wishing Well
Is closed for repairs.”

“WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!
Wishes may be reversed”
But Rabbit wished anyway,
The wish he’d rehearsed.

It had warned that all rabbits
Should read the sign well
And not wish for things
Like a bushy long tail.

So for trying to be
So smart and so clever
Rabbit’s tail just got shorter
Much shorter than ever.

And the one silly thing,
The thing that’s most sad;
Is that rabbits now have
Shorter tails than they had.