The Tigerilla

CHAPTER ONE They closed the county zoo for it was sick financially They thought they’d take the creatures to their homes across the sea The Silverback Gorilla soon in Africa would be And then they’d go to Asia where they’d set the tigers free With animals in cages in the cargo bay that day The plane took off and so their journey home was underway But also on the plane where all the passengers were sat… A lady with a broomstick and a very pointy hat She was a witch, she had an itch and scratched it with her wand She made a spell to send all itches back where they belonged But in a sudden cloud, all Smokey green, a bad egg pong The silly witch said, “Oops, I think my little spell went wrong.” But when the cloud of green had gone, as also was the smell Everything aboard the plane appeared all good and well And so the witch took out her little book of spells to read But in the cargo bay some things were very wrong indeed The creatures in their cages had all blended with each other If any could have used a phone they might have called their mother For animals that never lived all came to be that day And if a sane man saw them he would very likely pray In one cage an iguana and a dog became Dogzilla A big brown rodent turned into some kind of Rat-erpiller And these seemed fairly placid but the spell produced a killer When beasts from different continents became the Tigerilla These and other mixed up beasts had been locked up for ages But now they had a newfound strength and burst out of their cages And once the plane had landed, which the pilot didn’t bungle All the beasts ran off to make a new life in the jungle. CHAPTER TWO The Tigerilla prowled the darkest nights and brightest days A mighty ape with tiger fur and cunning tiger ways Suddenly across his path a big gorilla stood And Tigerilla snarled just like a Tigerilla should The big gorilla snorted and he beat his massive chest But Tigerilla’s tiger half was not all that impressed So Tigerilla bared his claws and calmly said, “Meow.” The mighty ape just ran and he might still be running now But no, it seems that Tigerilla made him really mad He was king of the jungle and another won’t be had He gathered half a dozen apes who cornered Tigerilla And chuckled when Dogzilla came… along with Rat-erpiller He muttered in gorilla-speak, “If those two are your army, You’d better think again, my friend, for you, my friend, are barmy. So leave my land you stripy fiend, you weird abomination And take your mixed up friends; you’re all an insult to creation.” Outnumbered, Tigerilla grinned and winked at both his friends A look that seemed to mean, “Why don’t I show you how this ends?” Alas, the gang of apes moved in, devoid of fear or doubt Till Tigerilla chewed them up then spat their bones back out And all the jungle birds and beasts (and those part insect too) Gathered round to celebrate the jungle king so new Though Tigerilla’s fight had left him huffing and a puffing He stood like a gorilla who was bold and scared of nothing But then the ground was shaken by a hundred stomping feet Whatever caused those tremors no one there was keen to meet But when they saw the culprit they all ran away at speed And even Tigerilla fled the elephantipede!