Shades of Entomol … the Fungi Forest
Shades of Entomol … the Fungi Forest
Wood Ear Mushrooms ~ The better to hear you with!
Fly Agaric Mushroom ~ of the poisonous variety!
The Fungi Forest, illustration for Entomol
Caterpil meets Graptemys, the map turtle … an excerpt from Entomol
Map turtles are members of the Graptemys genus and are called map turtles due to the markings on their shell (reminiscent of an old-time map). Here’s an excerpt from Entomol where Caterpil meets Graptemys, the map turtle.
Exploring the hillock of water-lapped land, he soon saw something that seemed quite strange for an island to have upon its face.
“Hmm, very odd indeed. Why, there are yellow lines here, there and everywhere!” he exclaimed with wonderment as he began to scrape away the layers of moss, algae and crusted mud to reveal the rest of the yellow-lined design.
Just as Caterpil was finishing up and standing back to have a look at what he had uncovered, a strange, nasally-sounding voice arose from the watery deeps in a bath of roiling-boiling, bursting bubbles.
“Who…are…you?” questioned the nosey-mouthed voice.
“Huh,” Caterpil muttered, while jumping backwards with a scared start, when the waters round about the small island suddenly began to froth, toss and churn all at once; out of which appeared a great big, green and leathery head with a beaked face.
“I say again, who are you? And what are you doing atop my back with all of your noisy scraping, scrubbing, scuffing, scouring and scratching?” returned he, eyeing a startled Caterpil curiously with his heavy-lidded, bulging, yellow eyeballs.
“Oh I am so very sorry. I am Caterpil, and I can assure you that I did not know this ‘island’ here was your back!” answered a terribly flushed and flustered he.
“Yes, I hear you quite clearly. An honest mistake to be sure. My name is Graptemys Geographica, or ‘Grappy’ for short, if you prefer, and I just so happen to be a ‘map turtle’. Now I can plainly see what all of your mussing and fussing about on my shell has done. You have cleaned it all off quite nicely, I must say; and those yellow lines upon my back are in fact my map. So please do not be afraid, for I very seldom have any company whatsoever, you know. This is a most pleasant change of affairs, as I have not been able to see the map on my back since my younger days, and I have been horribly lost because of it. You see, it is a map of the whole of this Great Water, and therefore, I can now find my way once again. So I really ought to thank you, and thank you I do, Caterpil,” explained the floating turtle with an earhole to earhole smile.
“Well that’s fair enough, and I meant no harm. Now perhaps we can both find our way; which reminds me, have you perchance seen a snail floating about? He is a good friend of mine and unfortunately got carried away by the strong currents some days ago,” Caterpil worriedly said.
“Hmm, I see. I am very sorry to hear this, as the Great Water can be a most dangerous place, especially if your friend happens to go anywhere near Croaker Island, for there dwells a fearsome frog named Croaker, who has an appalling appetite and will not hesitate to eat a snail!”
“Oh no, and that is the very person whom we were seeking, for I was told that he knows many things and can answer many questions.”
“Yes, he does, but at a price. None who go there seeking his guidance ever return, I am sad to say.”
“Whatever shall I do then?”
“Hopefully we are not too late to save your friend, if he has floated that way. Come with me. I will take you there. I am not afraid of the frog and I am much bigger than he!”
So hear, O’ hear, my happy song!
For, my head is large and my jaws are strong.
My tail is brightly striped and not too overly long.
I am well-keeled,
And with a carapace sealed;
Wherein, my plastron plates are quite firm,
While my skin is a rough and ready derm.
Yellow lines there are upon my back.
These do make a most marvelous map.
Now that I can see the chart,
Thus I can soon start
To find my way home,
Rather than to endlessly roam
Uponst the frothy foam all alone.
For the place where I was hatched
Is a spectacularly splendid pool, altogether unmatched.
Thereupon and forever anon is my heart therefore ever attached!
So went the turtle’s wee, witty ditty, while he carried a contented Caterpil atop his mapped back, who also began to sing along to Grappy’s slaphappy little song.
Photographs from El Bosque National Park, where the turtles were lazily sunning themselves …
A map turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii
A petrified fungi forest?
A petrified fungi forest? Shades of Entomol …
Excerpt from Entomol, approaching the entrance to the dreaded Fungi Forest.
After a wide bend in the roadway that skirted around a pointy-topped sea sponge mushroom, the company of eleven crickets, eleven hoppers and one Caterpil finally arrived at the entrance to the strange and mysterious Fungi Forest.
The great wall of gigantic mushrooms loomed eerily before them, rising high up into the gray and gloomy sky far above. Here the road became more like a narrow path as it plunged deep into a dark passage that went straight through the towering stem of a fly-agaric mushroom. The poisonous mushroom’s massive red cap was dotted with white spots, and was so very large that it appeared to be the size of a huge hill.
“Uh, well…here we are! Are you still sure that you want to do this?” asked a very scared-looking Locos, who peered nervously ahead into the dingy deeps of the deathly still and quiet of the murky forest.
“Yes, and now I know that I must. For I can plainly see Slug’s trail going straight on into this frightening place, and I must try and find him so that I can warn him not to eat any of the mushrooms before it is too late,” answered a fretful Caterpil.
“Very well then, let’s be off! Perhaps if we stay close together and don’t eat any of the mushrooms, we’ll be just fine,” stated Aorod hopefully, even though everyone could see that his eyes were popping out with fear.
Bisti de Na Zin Wilderness … the fantastic awaits
Bisti de Na Zin Wilderness — step into the realm of the fantastic
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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