Sprinkling a little magic on girl’s polar adventure
Borneo I knew of an orange ape
I thought I should really try him out before it was too late
You see his tribe are dwindling, and his kind may not have long,
Let’s spread the word, let’s try his hug, I hope that I am wrong.
We really should be shouting out, as the Orang Utan is rare,
Come here I said, you lovely man while I compare you to the bear.
He swung on down with his long, long arms and tried as best he could,
He wrapped them around my shoulders and to be fair it felt quite good.
But then his fur so prickly, brought me out in a terrible rash,
My neck went red, my arms did itch and I began to scratch.
I do apologise Mr Utan dear, I put you to the test,
But your simply not as cuddly, Ursa Major, is the best.
With Asia far behind me, further south was where I went,
I’d heard of a long lost fish with arms, it was the coelocanth.
Diving deep to where she swam, by the Isle of Madagascar
‘Please give me a hug,’ I said, blowing bubbles as I asked her.
The coelocanth, pronounced ‘sealeacanth’ was thought extinct for millions of years, until discovered on a fish market slab in East Africa by one Margaret Latimer in 1936, just had to be in the book.
As for the living fossil’s cuddle-value...nah, it’s not happening.
Regular readers may recall my mention of the Ailwee Cave in County Clare and how the maze of underground passages, were discovered in the 40’s by farmer Jacko McGann when his dog chased after a hare.
Now a wonderful show cave, with very rare long eared bats in residence and the amazing skeletal remains of a brown bear from 2,000 years ago; it’s bones still curled up where it died during hibernation.
This book telling the story is one for all ages and illustrated by Niamh and there will be a CD and an Itunes link to the song.
It was in the year of 44 when Jacko lost his dog.
It was herding time when up shot a hare and the dog forgot his job .... and so on.
Other ideas for children include a long time friend of mine, Colin Cuckoo,and from my dark comes... ‘Santa Was A Viking,’ brilliantly captured by Niamh.
Not sure parents would be too keen with the storyline though, and yes I should definitely leave the drawings to the experts.