The Odyssey of Chris and Ben

By Ingrid Tomey

Benjamin Bright and Christopher Could

Sailed off to Béhemoth Bay.

“I’ll sing you some songs,” said Benjamin Bright,

“To make the long hours pass away.”

He sang of the beasties in Béhemoth Bay,

Of the nine-legged Brackenwood Loys,

And the Glomulous Glizzard who glatches small girls

And glinderates redheaded boys.

“I’ll make you some art,” said Christopher Could.

“I’ll hang it inside of our boat.

For there’s naught but the sea and the sky to look at—

It’s becoming a tedious float!”

He drew a Snortrender with bristles and fins,

A huge Snaggletooth Snurr with its Scray,

And a Panting Pazew with eighty sharp claws—

All creatures of Béhemoth Bay.

As the boat became filled with the drawings of Chris

And the air became filled with Ben’s song,

They spotted the bay a short distance away.

Sang out Ben, “We’ll be there before long!”

The isle was encircled with glistening thorns,

And the waters around it were red.

The Flame-breathing Flutches stood snorting on shore—

The boys watched with a spine-tingling dread.

“I think I hear Mummy,” said Ben to friend Chris.

“Her voice calls to me o’er the foam.”

“And it’s dinnertime, too,” said Chris to friend Ben—

So they turned ’round their boat and sailed home.

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney