Blast from the past

I've been having a clear out recently, getting rid of lots of old school work, and while I'm sad to see it go, it's fascinating looking back at all my old work, most of which I don't even remember doing. Here are a couple of particular gems from primary school which I felt compelled to share:

There was a zebra from Peru,
Who spent most of his life in a zoo.
He got fed up of cages,
and threw lots of rages
and his keeper ended up in a cage too.

****

There was a zookeeper from Miller,
Who had an argument with a gorilla,
Said the gorilla to he,
Apologise to me,
Or get locked in with the chinchilla.

****

Obviously, there are a few issues with the above, which my older self now acknowledges (zebras don't come from Peru, where the heck is Miller, and did my 10 year old self know what a chinchilla is, because 12 years later, I'm still not entirely sure).

But, now for the piece de resistance, my illustration of the lesser known 'octozenopindil':

According to popular legend (the back of the page), "My animal has a crocodile's head, a rhino's horn, an octopuses legs, a snail's shell, a pig's tail and zebra skin. It lives in rainforests and eats fish."

How the Tate gallery hasn't yet commissioned me to headline one of their exhibitions, I'll never know.