Chapter 25
Cantus stood in the center of the Gorg’s garden, his purple robe glistening in the sunlight. In his hand he held his magic pipe and the rest of the Minstrels stood in behind him.
Fraggles and Doozers began to pour out of Fraggle Rock, all coming to be near Cantus as he bid farewell to them all for now.
Ma, Pa, and Junior Gorg came out of the castle happily and gathered around as well, being sure to make room for the Fraggles and Doozers joining them. Cantus looked around the crowd and nodded slowly. "Good, everyone is here," he said. He turned to face the center of the crowd and spread his arms out wide. "My friends," he said cheerfully, "welcome to the farewell."
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Marjory strained her ears to hear what was going on out in the garden. She couldn’t see anything from her secluded area. "Why, oh why did I sacrifice feet for boundless oracle knowledge?" she asked herself.
"Hey Marjory," Philo called, "I t’ink we’ve got somethin’ that may help."
Philo and Gunge walked up and revealed a large, pink lampshade and handed it to Marjory. "Put it up to your ear, there, and you can hear everything," Gunge said.
"Oh, boys," Marjory said happily, "I love it!" She took it from her two rat friends and put it up to her ear. "Ah, clear as crystal," she said. "Oh, and look at this—" She put the lampshade on top of her head. "When I don’t need to hear, it’s also a hat!"
Philo, Gunge, and Marjory the All-Knowing, All-Seeing, Trash Heap (Nyeah) laughed together in Perfect Harmony.
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"Friends," Cantus said. "Fraggles, Doozers, Gorgs. Finally friends. Finally together in Perfect Harmony."
"And it’s not that bad, either!" called the World’s Oldest Fraggle from the crowd.
"Agreed," Pa Gorg said.
"Good," Cantus said with a nod. "Though I am leaving, there is still one thing left to do."
"What’s that, Cantus?" Wembley asked.
"Sing the songs of Fraggle, Doozer, and Gorg," Cantus said. "Because, as you know—" Cantus put his magical pipe to his lips and blew into it, from the pipe came a familiarly gorgeous tune. The rest of the Minstrels picked up on the tune on their respective instruments. "Music grows in the rose," he sang, pulling the pipe away from his lips.
"Rock and rain in the blowin’ snow storm
Everyone seems to sing
Everywhere I go."
"One, two play me do
Let me sound as sweet as you
Play me wide, play me long
Let me be your song."
"Lay me down on the ground
Song comes singin’ from the midnight places
Raise me high in the sky
Song comes driftin’ through."
The Fraggles, who knew the words by heart, sang the chorus with Cantus.
"Play me high, play me low
Play me where the wild winds blowin’
Play me wide, play me long
Play me for your song."
The Doozers and Gorgs had by now picked up the words to the chorus and sang along with the Fraggles and Cantus to close off his song. Cantus turned his grin towards the Fraggle Five and motioned towards Red and Boober. "Red, Boober, it’s your turn."
The two Fraggles looked at each other and shrugged, they moved to the center of the group that had gathered and smiled, beginning to sing.
"Remember when, now and then
Everything went wrong
And then our friends
Would sing the friendship song," Red sang.
"You and I," Boober chimed in, "we’d nearly cry
To know their love was strong
And by and by
We’d start to sing along."
"Try a little longer for your friends," the two Fraggles sang together.
"Try a little stronger fro your friends."
"Your life comes up, your life goes down," Red sang, wrapping an arm around Boober’s shoulder.
"There’s just one way to keep it goin’ round."
Boober joined Red to sing the final chorus. "Try a little longer for your friends
Try a little stronger for your friends…"
Gobo grinned wildly as his two friends closed out their song. He looked at Wembley and his grin grew even more. Wembley gulped and Gobo grabbed his best friend by the wrist and pulled him to the center. Gobo flipped his guitar around to his chest and struck a chord. "Well, when I’m wemblin’ west
I take the friend I like best
So we can wemble, wemble, wemble side by side," Gobo sang.
Wembley laughed and joined in the song. "And when we’re wemblin’ south
We stick our feet in our mouth."
"And we just wemble, wemble, wemble as we ride," they both sang.
"So now it’s—"
The two Fraggles started scatting; Wembley’s scats were a little faster tempo than Gobo’s.
"’Cause a wemblin’ song can’t go wrong," Wembley sang. "Yes, it’s—"
The scatting continued, "Just wemblin’ on."
"We wemble most to the east
And north we wemble the least
But still, we wemble, wemble, wemble along
Come on and wemble and you’ll
Be just a wemblin’ fool
‘Cause that’s the wemble, womble, wemblin’ song."
The two Fraggles scatted out the final chorus and ended by saying, "Just wemblin’ on…"
"Oh, d’is is fun, huh daddy?" Junior asked his Pa, nudging him.
Mokey smiled and walked up to Junior. "C’mon, I’ve got a song for us."
Junior blinked. "Alwight…" he said.
"Every place I go," Mokey sang.
"No one seems to know
Everything is always the same
Still I need to trust,
In the best of us
Can’t we change the rules of the game?"
"It’s time for everyone," Mokey, along with the Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs sang.
"Time to live as one." She looked up at Junior. "Okay, your turn," she said.
"Watching heah and theyah," he sang.
"No one seems to care
We could tear the whole thing apart
Can’t we pay da pwice?
Make a sacwifice?
Know we’ah diffewent wight fwom the start?"
Everyone repeated the chorus twice and Junior picked Mokey up into his hand and moved to the center of the crowd. "Needle fights the thread," Mokey sang.
"Bakah works the bwead," Junior sang.
"Wind and war make war on the sea," they both sang.
"Nature knows the way
Shows it everyday
To join us though we still disagree."
"Time for everyone
Time to live as one."
A group of Doozers emerged from the crowd, "Alright, now it’s our turn," proclaimed Architect Doozer. "Is everyone ready?" he asked the Doozers, who replied with a cheer.
"Are those who are Doozers present?" Architect asked.
Cries of, "We are! We are! We are!" rose from the crowd.
"Are those who are Fraggles and Gorgs present?" Architect asked.
"We are! We are! We are!"
Architect cleared his throat and began to sing to the Doozers. "Do you love the Doozer days, workin’ all day long?" He turned to the Fraggles.
"Do you follow Fraggle ways, playing with a song?" He shifted his attention to the three Gorgs.
"Do you know the Gorgish lore, love it as your own?" He now addressed everyone.
"Do you dream of Perfect Harmony, sleeping in your home?"
"Yes we do, yes we do
Yes we really, really do
Yes we do, yes we do
Yes we really do!" replied every Fraggle, Doozer, and Gorg, gathered in the garden.
"Very good," Architect said. "Will a Doozer ever snooze?
Will a Fraggle lose
A game that other Fraggles win
But Gorgs do not know how?"
"No we won’t! No we won’t!
No we really, really won’t
No we won’t! No we won’t!
No we really won’t."
"Everybody ready?" he asked the crowd.
"Will you make your promise new?"
"Yes we really will!"
"Perfect Harmony, through and through?"
"Yes it really is!"
"Are we joyful partners here?"
"Yes we really are!"
"In a world that we revere?"
"Yes we really are!
"Yes we are, yes we are
Yes we really, really are
Yes we are, yes we are
Yes we really are!
"Yes we do, yes we do
Yes we really, really do
Yes we do, yes we do
Yes we really do!"
All of those gathered in the garden cheered wildly and Cantus stepped forward and began to sing again. "Pick any song you please
Click, now in harmony
Stick to it and you’ll see
What a kick it is to be
Friends, friends, friends ‘til the end," he sang.
Traveling Matt emerged from the group and began to sing. "I’ll travel where I will
You tag along and we’ll
See most of everywhere
Everyone will know that we’re
Friends, friends, friends ‘til the end."
Pa Gorg laughed and had to join in the song. "Sometimes when we fell a little bored
We play a little game but we don’t keep score
Friendship is its own reward," he sang.
"Fun just to play the game—"
"Win, lose it’s all the same!" Matt sang.
"Who cares who really comes in first?" Cantus asked.
"Friends, friends, friends ‘til the end
‘Til the end, ‘til the end, ‘til the end."
Gobo came up to his uncle and Cantus, playing his guitar and smiled. Cotterpin Doozer climbed up Gobo’s tail, across his back, and onto the top of his guitar. She grinned at all the happiness around her and began to sing a new song.
"We’ve found a way
To live on Easy Street
No more troubles, no more cares or woes
Oh happy day
It’s made our lives complete
‘Cause easy is the only way to go!"
"That’s right Cotterpin," Gobo said with a smile.
Cantus looked at Gobo. "Are you and your friends ready to begin the end?" he asked.
Gobo nodded. "C’mon guys," he called to Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red.
Boober cleared his throat and took center "stage." "Ohhhhh," he said, stretching the word out.
"The song," Mokey said.
"The song," Red repeated.
"The song," both of them plus Boober said, "of songs."
Gobo jumped into the middle with Wembley next to him and Cotterpin still on his guitar. "Everybody down at Fraggle Rock
Don’t be late it’s time for taking stock
Everybody’s got a part to play
Everybody brought their hearts today," he sang.
"Sing about the Rock and sing it strong," Cotterpin sang.
"’Cause we belong to the song
And the Rock goes on and on and on," Wembley, Junior, and Cotterpin harmonized.
"One is for the ones who came before," Gobo sang.
"Two is for the treasures at our door," Red sang.
"Three is for the rockin’ jubilee," Wembley sang.
"Four is for the future that will be," Mokey sang.
"When we start to sing we sing it strong!" Boober sang loudly.
The music stopped.
All eyes turned to Boober. He looked around and cleared his throat. "What?" he asked. "It’s easy to get caught up in a moment!" he said.
"Good to have you on the fun side, buddy!" Sidebottom called out.
Boober frowned. "Can we just go on?" he pleaded. The music resumed and the Fraggles continued to sing.
"’Cause we belong to the song
And the rock goes on and on and--," everyone sang, repeating the verse three times.
"’Cause we belong to the song
Ang the rock goes on and on and—"
"On!" Wembley shouted.
"Last song, here we go," Cantus said, blowing into his pipe. Gobo knew what song was being played and picked up on his guitar string, playing the same notes twice and then picking up tempo and adding in the guitar of Murray Minstrel.
"Dance your cares away!" Gobo sang, everyone clapped twice after the line.
"Worries for another day
Let the music play
Down at Fraggle Rock!" (clap, clap)
"Work your cares away!" sang the Doozers.
"Dancing’s for another day
Work your cares away
Down at Fraggle Rock!"
"Look out," Junior said, "time for the Gorgs!"
"Dance your cares away," Junior, Ma, and Pa sang.
"Worries for another day
Let the music play!
Down at Fraggle Rock!"
Gobo and Wembley moved to the center and started scatting to the music, everyone cheered and began to sing again.
"Dance your cares away!" (clap, clap) everyone gathered in the garden sang.
"Worries for another day!
Let the music play!
Down at Fraggle Rock!" (clap, clap)
"Dance your cares away! (clap, clap)
Worries for another day!
Let the music play!
Down at Fraggle Rock!
Down at Fraggle Rock!"
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Marjory, Philo, and Gunge all danced around. "Down at Fraggle Rock!" they all sang happily.
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"Down at Fraggle Rock!" everyone sang. Everyone cheered. Everyone danced. Everyone was tied together in Perfect Harmony.
Boober tripped while trying to dance and propped himself up on his elbows and smirked. "Down at Fraggle Rock," he said with a dreary groan.
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Doc rubbed Sprocket’s head and Sprocket barked happily and licked Doc’s cheek. "Down at Fraggle Rock," Doc said with a huge grin.
Sprocket barked happily and nodded.
Music in the air
Friendship everywhere
Ties of love uniting you and me
Linking us in Perfect Harmony...
THE END
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