Part and parcel of the parody fill-in is the word game from Price Sloan Stern, Mad Libs. Not as funny as their ‘Droodles,’ this chronic cultural time-waster has its place in the annals of comedy (for kids). So, all you gotta do is take a traditional carol (‘Away in a Manger’), elide some words leaving blanks in their place. Then identify the words as nouns, verbs, what-have-yous, and ask for random part-of-speech examples from the audience to fill in those blanks. The resulting mishegoss MIGHT be amusing. (for kids, it’s usually scatalogical.)(Without an audience, i went with elementary school articles about turtles.) (Oh, and for musicality, I sought out the correct number of syllables for each fill in.)
Manger Mad Libs
1 Away in a OCEAN, no BEACH for a NEST, the COASTAL Lord HAWKSBILL, laid down His GREEN SHELL; the SEAS in the CURRENTS, RAN down where He SWAM, the ADULT MALE HAWKSBILL, MOBILE on the BAY. 2 The SEABIRDS are CIRCLing, the Baby HATCHES, but little ARCHIE CARR, no DIGGing He MATES. I LAY Thee, JACQUES COUSTEAU, look DEEP from the SCUTES and BREED by my EGGS until DIVing is nigh. 3 Be near me, AQUARIST; I MIGRATE to stay close by SAND forever, and EMERGE, I WEDGE. Bless all the dear CLUTCHES in Thy SNAPPING BEAKS, and PADDLE for DEEP SEA, RETRACT with Thee there.
Okay, i didn’t play by the rules. Not random! Some of the lines ‘spoke’ to me, so i went with it. And, while i don’t insist this is NOT blasphemous, i do declare it is educational. Shouldn’t bother third graders.