Short Story: The 'Sensible Salamander'

Short Story: The 'Sensible Salamander'

Far from the shore,

Lies a swamp, and what’s more,

The air is creepy and cold,

So, I gathered some logs,

From the trees of the bogs,

And,

An oak one hundred years old,

The leaves it had shed,

Were rusty and red,

And lay in great mounds at its roots,

I gathered each one,

And when that was done,

A handful of twigs and dry shoots,

Now, I know a trick,

You do with a stick,

So, I rubbed till my arms did tire,

Then one leaf became,

A little blue flame,

And,

The rest followed suit and caught fire!

The little flame grew,

And turned a nice blue,

That shone through the bogs creepy haze,

It flickered and shimmered,

And glittered and glimmered,

As it changed from a flame to a blaze,

But, a curious site,

I saw in the light,

A reptile, that glistens and glows?

For, out of the fire,

In the eerie ‘Quagmire’,

He crawled, without burning his toes!

It wasn’t a skink,

And,

I really don’t think,

A Newt or a Gecko of breed,

Could walk through a fire,

I’m sure he’d expire,

Unless,

He was very cold-blooded indeed!

Now,

My serpentine guest,

Had the luck to be blessed,

With a fireproof skin that was patterned,

With fiery signs,

And sizzling designs,

And,

The toes on his feet were quite flattened,

His body was cold,

It was gilded with gold,

It was soggy, but I don’t know why?

For if you remember,

He’d walked on an ember,

And,

I’m sure; he should have baked dry!

Now,

I know of no lizard,

That can withstand the blizzard,

Of the flames of an inferno,

But,

There is something grander,

The tiny salamander,

It’s fabled from long, long ago!

A serpent, so vile,

With a venomous smile,

A ‘fire-breathing lizard, how tragic,

For,

He poisons the fruits,

If he bites the trees roots,

With the power of a wizards, black magic!

He breeds in a flame,

And, is borne of the same,

That,

Has blazed for many a long year,

He’s the element of fire,

And,

The salamander’s desire,

Is to reward us, with panic and fear!

A serpent so small,

That scares, one and all?

An ogre, a fiend to despise,

A monstrous brute!

But,

I think he’s cute,

He’s got very nice, lizard eyes!

He may like the heat,

On the souls of his feet,

But,

I’m sure, he wouldn’t harm me,

It must be a myth,

The kind, you take with,

A pinch of salt, from the sea!

So,

I placed, with no qualm,

Into the palm,

Of my hand, this creature of dread,

But,

There was no wizard,

And, it wasn’t a lizard,

But,

An adorable amphibian instead!

Though, I held him in awe,

Something much more,

Unusual, crawled out of the wood,

A strange quartet,

I’ll never forget,

And, each one, with a pretty white hood,

Tiny and pink,

And, not one a skink,

For,

There hoods were fluffy white wattles,

They were newly born, too,

And, nearly, see-through,

Four fine looking, pink axolotls!

As a lizard he fails,

He has no scales,

For,

He’s not really a reptile at all,

He’s more like a frog,

Who likes the wet bog,

And,

Swims, long before he can crawl,

He feels at home,

In sand or foam,

And,

He walks as well as he swims,

He is, you’ve guessed,

An amphibian, who’s dressed,

Like a fish, with lizard-like limbs!

Now, Everyone knows,

How a goose family grows,

A gosling, turns into a gander,

So,

A baby axolotl,

When, weaned from a bottle,

Turns into a big salamander!

I sat for a while,

In amphibian style,

With my host, whom I tried to impress,

And,

His four little ones,

His daughters and sons,

And a beautiful ‘Salamandress’,

“Have you ever seen”,

I asked, “it’s aquamarine”,

It’s purple, it’s red and royal blue,

“It belongs to a shell,

You may know it well”,

For,

It’s the home of an amphibian too!

“In puddle and pool,

I’ve searched like a fool,

On the banks with its fabulous flowers,

I’ve looked all around,

But he’s not to be found,

The turtle with oracular powers!

He looked with tilted head,

At me, and then he said,

“I will tell you about,

Two friends and a trout,

The trout of the bubbling brook,

A colourful tale,

For, in every scale,

Is a rainbow, if only you’ll look!

The friends, with a whim,

Decided to swim,

In the stream, which was not very wise,

And,

I’m sure you will think,

As they started to sink,

That the bubbles had been a surprise,

For,

They could walk, they could trot,

But,

Swim, they could not,

They should have stayed on the bank,

A silly salmon and a,

Sillier Salamander,

They wallowed, then they sank!"

Now,

This, would have been tragic,

But, the trout knew some magic,

He offered these two just one wish,

“I choose,” said the salamander,

“To swim and meander,”

And,

The salmon said, “Make me a fish!”

Now,

This may sound obscure,

A fishy tale, I am sure,

But,

“It could be a riddle,”I guessed,

A puzzle with an angle,

I should like to untangle,

To continue my ‘chelonian’ quest,

Then,

He added, with a smile,

“Walk the crescent isle,

To each corner, that’s what you must do,

And,

Like, the two friends,

You’ll find at its ends,

That your wish will come perfectly true!”

He will find you at will,

Though ‘turtle-time’ may stand still,”

He said, as he turned to go,

Then, into the heat,

A hasty retreat’

He beat, with his family in tow!

The turtle, it was clear,

In the end, would appear,

“That’s what the riddle must mean,

And,

He’d bring his shell,

If it was needed, as well,

What a sensible salamander he’d been,”

Far from the shore,

Is a little folklore,

And,

It lives in the wet swampy mire,

So,

If you’re cold, and you’re frail,

There’s a sensible tale,

To be found at the salamanders’ warm fire!