Were you ever told about the Tirtiris that danced?
It flipped and it twirled and jumped and it pranced.
The creature thought this made all its friends happy
So it tried its very best to make everything snappy
One day the Tirtiris met a child on the road
It giggled and smiled and gracefully bowed
The Tirtiris fixed up all of its clothes
And ran up closer like someone who knows
That making new friends was hard to do
For something that’s smaller than the size of your shoe
So it tried to give the child some rice
And did all it could to look really nice
The child didn’t know what to do
The Tirtiris’ interest in him just grew and grew
He tried to politely turn the creature away
But all the Tirtiris wanted to do was play
Finally the Tirtiris thought to leave the boy alone
When the boy shouted at it and pointed his tone
The Tirtiris cried and ran towards the hills
And to his surprise the boy suddenly got the chills
The child looked at his arm and couldn’t believe
What he unexpectedly found under his sleeve
There were all different kinds of blisters and rashes
He tried to not scratch but the itch came in flashes
The child scratched and scratched but couldn’t find relief
All the rashes did was cause him much grief
See, the Tirtiris is nice and open to its friends
But if you cross them, better learn to make amends
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Tirtiris entry in Myth Museum. Medina. 2015.
Tirtiris Illustration by Kayla Teodoro
Tumblr: mikaylateodoro.tumblr.com