Toy People*
Carol Jenkins
Scientists report they have
found remains of toy people
on Flores Island
and the journalists add
they were pea brains
that hunted miniature elephants
which scientist Peter Brown
said would make nice pets.
It was variably reported
that they were too stupid
to talk, or could talk
which was amazing because
they were so stupid.
Either they were just smart
enough to build a boat
after they talked about it
or light enough to swim
a long way, and mercifully
the lack of language prevented
them from complaining
about the weather, weariness and sharks.
They were all wiped out
by a volcano 15,000 years ago
but it might be that the last died
only 500 years ago.
Island stories say
in old times food was left out
for the little People
and they ate everything
including the gourds.
But maybe they took
the gourds and after some discussion
used them to build a better boat
to travel a place where the Big People
weren’t so patronizing, or at least
could get the story straight.
* Homo floresiensis
Originally published in Fishing in the Devonian (Puncher & Wattman, 2008)
Feature image via Biodiversity Heritage Library