Mad Prince Vlad Tepes looked out
Of the Sunset Tower,
Where the condemned slid down stakes
A symbol of his power.
Loudly screamed the impaled souls ,
Stakes rammed up their groins,
When a merchant came in sight,
Claiming "Someone's stole my coins"
.

"Hither, page, and stand by me.
Come look through the transom
Yonder merchant, who is he?
And just what is his problem?"

"Sire, he claims his sacks of gold
By sneak thieves have been taken,
But no–one would be so daft
He must be mistaken".

"Bring the merchant to me, page"
Was Vlad's exclamation
" I will get his gold coins back
Issue a proclamation
If the thief who stole the gold
Does not return the gold sacks
I'll impale 100 men
Each day until they're put back".

All the gold coins were returned
The thief knew it was urgent
But then Vlad devised a plan
To test out the merchant
He added one more gold coin,
To the full amount, then
Told the merchant , "To be sure
You had better count them".

One by one he counted up
All the gold coins, then he
Said to Vlad, "I seem to have
One gold coin too many"

"I put that there as a test
Just to see what you'd do
And if you had not confessed
Then I would have impaled you"