Thread: First line challenge 5thAug2009

I wrote to eggo, our last winner, asking for a fresh first line and received an invitation to use whatever I wished.
Not wishing to impose myself I asked the other half if she could think of a good first line.
After rejecting " 'Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wake" and then "James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree" from AA Milne we arrived at:-

The chief defect of Henry King

from "Cautionary tales" by Hilare Belloc. What a wonderful choice of rhymes that gives, I hope it stimulates the imagination.

The chief defect of Henry King
Was no matter what was said to him
He believed it, everything.

Other boys would tease him rotten
Saying Henry you’ve forgotten
To put your trousers on today
And he would squeal and run away.

Or leave him waiting on something
When they knew it wasn’t coming
Making fun of his poor plight.
‘Til they were going home one night.

A workman shouted to them “Down”
But only Henry hit the ground
A sheet of glass upon a crane
Swung one way, then swung back again.

The other boys remarks were pointed,
Then they were decapitated
Without knowing it was there
(Though Shortarse only lost his hair)

Which, in case you needed proof
Illustrates this tale’s truth
It’s not a defect to believe
And sometimes you may be relieved.