The Kappa - Momus

Be careful by the river when a kappa is about

He’s a folk monster, a hairy kind of lout

Scaly like a reptile, smaller than a man

With green webbed feet, a salamander hand

He swims like a fish but the kappa smells dead

A flat wet plate on the pate of his head

Which must stay wet or the kappa grows weak

Sharp little teeth, a nose like a beak

Human children are his favourite food

Aubergines and cucumbers are just as good

Remember that the kappa can irrigate land

Help you with the harvest when you need a hand

And even at his worst, at the height of his attack

If you bow to a kappa he always bows back

Totally unprincipled but outwardly polite

He’s a folk monster and a rapist on the side

He lurks down by the river fingering kimonos

So a naked pearl diver should never go solo

For a kappa may be lurking on the bottom of the lake

Ready to accost and impregnate

And soon a little folk monster will be born

Bury it at once or the kappa will return

If you have to fight you’ll win if you can get

The arms off his body or the water off his head

Remember that the kappa can bring you fish

Reset your bones if you ever break a wrist

And even at his worst, at the height of his attack

If you bow to a kappa he always bows back