Short Story: The Shriggs


In the year five million and one,
a space monk travelled to Pum.
A planet of green,
he hoped he would meet
some nice aliens he could take home.

His space vessel landed on soil,
and his first impressions were royal,
for the beings called Shriggs
were polite little things
with nice food and big homes and green smiles.

But the monk found his learning was slow,
unable to let the Shriggs know,
that a vow to be silent
actually meant
he could only converse with a show.


The aliens on Pum didn't mind
and continued to be very kind.
They never made noise,
gesture was their voice,
there weren't even burps when they dined!

Weeks after the new discovery,
the space monk gestured that he
should travel back home
to let his friends know
all about the new world he had seen.

The Shriggs wished him good speed,
except for the ones that agreed
to return in his ship
on an inter-species trip
that would be very pleasant, it seemed.

So the happy monk and Shriggs
flew to Space Monastery Six,
where a welcoming brother
made the huge blunder
of greeting them in harmonics.

As the kind brother said "Greetings,"
the Shriggs all felt violent feelings,
for sound was to them
a horrible weapon
that offended them more than all things...

They attacked the human race,
for it was obviously a disgrace
that horrible words
should ever emerge
from the lips of anyone's face!

The Space Monastery was left
in a twisted-up metal mess.
The Shriggs returned home,
but not quite alone,
for they kept the silent monk for themselves.

That poor space monk on Pum
still lives there, and misses his mum,
so be careful what you say
to strangers each day,
and if you spy a green smile- run!



Image source: http://www.wpclipart.com/cartoon/aliens/green_alien_head.png.html

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