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The Fairy Feller's Master-stroke

Lyrics by Freddy Mercury, inspired on a a painting by English artist Richard Dadd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fairy_Feller's_Master-Stroke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Image-Dadd_-_Fairy_Feller%27s.jpg

He's a fairy feller
Ah ah the fairy folk have gathered
Round the new moon's shine
To see the feller crack a nut
At night's noon time
To swing his axe he swears
As he climbs he dares
To deliver the master stroke

Ploughman wagoner will' and types
Politician with senatorial pipe
He's a dilly dally oh
Pedagogue squinting wears a frown
And a satyr peers under lady's gown
He's a dirty fellow
What a dirty laddie-oh

Tatterdemalion and the junketer
There's a thief and a dragonfly trumpeter
He's my hero ah
Fairy dandy tickling the fancy
Of his lady friend
The nymph in yellow (can we see the master stroke)
What a quaere fellow

Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Soldier sailor tinker tailor ploughboy
Waiting to hear the sound
And the arch magician presides
He is the leader
21 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. gathered
    brought together in one place
    Chiefs gathered in ceremonial headdresses adorned with ermine skins and sea lion whiskers.
  2. swear
    to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
    Livingston went on to swear in Washington as the first president.
  3. peer
    look searchingly
    Natalie, aspiring local newscaster and general busybody, cracked open my bedroom door and peered inside at me. Salon (Dec 31, 2013)
  4. frown
    a facial expression of dislike or displeasure
    Its sourness worked my face into a frown. Slate (Dec 10, 2013)
  5. gown
    a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions
    Weekends in December became forced marathon shopping excursions in which I tried on skirts and gowns that would later become my presents. Salon (Dec 24, 2013)
  6. feller
    a boy or man
    Both men, contract tree fellers, were part of a firefighting team.
  7. dandy
    a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
    You have all these dandies, all these businessmen in their suits, who have to be powerful and successful.
  8. tinker
    work as a tinker or tinkerer
    Soldier sailor tinker tailor ploughboy
  9. laddie
    a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy)
    No, laddie, you have told me nothing: that's true enough. Hay, Ian
  10. senatorial
    of or relating to an assembly with high legislative powers
    For example, he assured his former senatorial colleagues that al Qaeda was not among the Syrian rebels.
  11. ploughman
    a man who plows
    It was possible that in his love of the soil he was a throwback; he would have made, and indeed he was, a good ploughman. Weyman, Stanley J.
  12. pedagogue
    someone who educates young people
    Pedagogues become intoxicated with the enlightenment of the students. Forbes (Mar 1, 2013)
  13. squinting
    having eyes half closed in order to see better
    Will Huff takes a seat in front of a computer, occasionally squinting at the screen.
  14. ostler
    someone employed in a stable to take care of the horses
    One of the "Imperial" ostlers took the horse's head, said "All right, Mr. Garden," and John Willie descended and walked. Onions, Oliver
  15. dragonfly
    slender-bodied non-stinging insect having iridescent wings that are outspread at rest; adults and nymphs feed on mosquitoes etc.
    If you look carefully, you can see a thin filament extending into the dragonfly larva’s translucent body. Scientific American (Aug 28, 2013)
  16. ploughboy
    a boy who leads the animals that draw a plow
    Broken men, beggars and what not, peasants and ploughboys, ill-armed and ill-fed! Weyman, Stanley J.
  17. tatterdemalion
    a dirty shabbily clothed person
    He speaks of them as "a set of tatterdemalions, almost naked, with fierce looks." Reber, George
  18. harridan
    a scolding (even vicious) old woman
    My normally sweet mother had transformed into a harridan.
  19. masterstroke
    an achievement demonstrating great skill or mastery
    The Guardian describes Russian President Vladimir Putin pulling off an "Olympic masterstroke" by backing an amnesty law and thus ensuring its passing.
  20. dilly-dally
    waste time or postpone doing what one should be doing
    Still, there’s no time to dilly-dally: the planetary thermostat for the next millennia is being set in these early decades of the 21st century. Scientific American (Nov 16, 2012)
  21. junketeer
    go on a pleasure trip
    Tatterdemalion and the junketer There's a thief and a dragonfly trumpeter
Created on Thu Jan 02 19:51:25 EST 2014 (updated Thu Jan 02 20:08:02 EST 2014)

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