In ancient, feudal China, near the gently foaming sea
Was a village full of kakapos, who specialized in tea
Although they mostly looked the same, one citizen did not
In fact, she was quite diff'rent, not a little, but a lot
Her gangly legs were clumsy and her beak was sharp and gray
Her brow donned funny plumage which grew tall, to her dismay
The structure of her bones was unlike anything they'd seen
And worst of all, her feathers were dull brown instead of green
She lived with her two parents, who were normal like the rest
Although she was quite ugly, they affirmed she was the best
She didn't quite believe them, in her mind t'was rightly so
Of all the birds she'd met, she was the strangest kakapo
One day, a gray, old, grizzled goose came waddling into town
He saw the skinny land-bird and stood up to give a frown
"You're very silly, hon," he said, "By now, you ought to know
That you are a teenage peacock, not a measly kakapo!"
She looked into this mystery, and sure enough, she found
That her lineage was something that could very well astound
She wasn't just a common bird: she was a young peahen
What's more, her uncle's father's aunt was cousins with Lord Shen
This knowledge would change everything, because she was in line
for a throne (which had been broken, but symbolically was fine)
So, packing bindles full of grain, our hero made her way
To the city of Gongmen, which was five hundred miles away
When she arrived, to her surprise, the Masters gave their thanks
They needed someone new to run their markets and their banks
They put her in an office and decisions, she did make
The treaties seemed confusing, but she signed them for their sake
Three days went by, and in that time, their trade routes did collapse
The peahen was not learn-ed in economy, perhaps
And so, she journeyed shamefully to her old birdie town
Her parents poured her tea because they sensed her heart was down
At least the pain was over, and from now on, she would know
That a peahen's failures meant more than those of a kakapo.