Once upon a time, on a scary Halloween night, in an old castle, there lived a ghost whose name was Gus. He was a friendly little ghost, but he was all alone, for all of the other ghosts had gone off to have fun and frighten children. So he sat on a headstone in the graveyard and wept and sang:
“Oh, dear! what can the matter be!
Oh, dear! what can the matter be!
Oh, dear! what can the matter be!
Alone in the graveyard live I.”
Suddenly he heard a noise, and looking up saw two little children coming toward him down a dark path leading from the castle.
“Tweedledum, Tweedledee!
I think they’re coming to me
And bringing their playthings too,
Golly! What shall I do?
Whoever hath seen a ghost?
I declare that I am almost froze.”
And Gus was.
The children came nearer and nearer, and Gus thought,
“Oh, dear! what can the matter be!
Oh, dear! what can the matter be!”
And he did not know what to do.
He knew quite well he could frighten them to death if he wanted to, but Gus was not an ill-natured little ghost and didn’t want to do that. All he wanted was to make friends with the children.
So he made up his mind he would not try to frighten them, and accordingly put on his friendliest smile and sat quietly in the old graveyard till the children came near.
“Why, see! see!” cried a little fat boy, and jumped from the hand of a little thin girl who was helping him along. The thin girl gave a scream and stood perfectly still for a moment looking at the ghost. Then she said gently:
“Please come here, Gus,” for she knew his name, having heard the other little ghosts call him so.
Then the other children ran up to Gus, and pulling his gown and shaking his hand said:
“Oh, may we come out and play with you?
Don’t be angry for what we do.”
And of course Gus was not.
So they played all night long in the graveyard till the roosters hailed the approach of morning.
“Oh dear! what can the matter be!
Oh dear! what can the matter be!
Tickle Dee, Tickle Dum!
It’s time for us to go home.”
“Oh no, no never more!
Please don’t send me from your door!”
And they never did, but played with Gus whenever the children went to their little beds.
So the other ghosts were very jealous and tried to frighten his little friends away, but they never succeeded. As the poem says:
“Bullets may blossom Bouquet,
But a ghost will never fright one eh?”
When there were no balls or parties going on in the castle those foolish little children would come out in the moonlight to play with their friend in the graveyard.
“And they gambolled and played so happily.”
And they all lived happy ever after.