This is the chronicle we tell
Of Arthur Ironfoot so well.
His sons would spread both far and wide
With evolution as their guide.
Arthur bore two sons of fame:
Arthropus, double-legged by name,
And Fuxi, wise and strong,
Who lived his whole life long.
Arthropus the double-legged
From him great lines were pledged.
Two sons he bore with might:
Ferron and Isoxys bright.
From Ferron came two more:
Megacheiron to explore
And Euthyphro the wise
Who looked with knowing eyes.
Megacheiron bore sons many,
Among them Pantopus—any
Day he hoped to find
A mate both true and kind.
Pantopus was lonely there
Until he met a maiden fair.
Beautiful Pyka was her name,
Who set his heart aflame.
"You are all legs!" he cried
To his beloved bride.
And so they became the line
Of Sea Spiders so fine.
The Sea Spiders built cities strange
Throughout their ocean range.
In their legs they stored
All organs they adored:
Intestines in their limbs,
Genitals where water swims,
Gills within each leg—
No coelom did they beg.
All legs they truly were
As Pantopus did aver.
Their bodies lean and slight,
Their legs their main delight.
Euthyphro bore two sons:
Insectus, when day begun,
And Arachnus the keen
With appendages seen.
From Insectus' noble line
The insects would shine.
From Arachnus would come
Arachnids, every one.
The sons of Arachnus bore
Great appendages to explore.
The sons of Insectus made
Great legs for their trade.
Some lived in waters blue,
Some on land walked through.
Aquatic and terrestrial,
Both paths proved beneficial.
Insectus bore three sons strong:
Mandibulus all along,
Aquilonifer so free,
And Hymenocarina of the sea.
Mandibulus bore two more:
Crustaceus to explore
The waters deep and wide,
And Euthy by his side.
From Crustaceus came the race
Of Crustaceans in every place.
The lobsters and the crabs
With claws for holding grabs.
But Euthy chose the shore
Where waves would crash and roar.
Upon the rocks so high
Beneath the open sky.
With water bears he walked
Where dry and wet air talked.
The asphyxiating land
They faced with courage grand.
Here they laid their eggs
Between the stone ledges.
In gardens of lichen green
Their young would first be seen.
From Euthy's brave descendants
Who faced the land's defendants,
The insects would arise
To conquer earth and skies.
Arachnus bore two sons:
Trilos when day begun
And Serk of ancient fame
Who earned eternal name.
Serk bore many children,
Among them Chelicer, hidden
In shadows dark and deep,
And Sidney, secrets to keep.
From Chelicer's small line
The spiders would shine.
All arachnids eight-legged
From his bloodline were pledged.
Today in every corner
Where webs are a mourner
For flies caught in their snare,
Chelicer's children are there.
Among great Trilos' daughters
Who ruled the ancient waters
Were Trilobon the queen,
Marrella, ghostly seen,
Esmeralda jewel-bright,
And Retifacia's sight.
Marrella soft and pale
Told a ghostly tale.
She became ancestress
Of Marellans no less.
Like phantoms in the sea
They lived quite freely.
Soft-bodied and ethereal,
Almost immaterial.
Trilobon bore four children
In waters never still then:
Trilobeth the great queen,
Xander, strong and keen,
Necta sweet and fair,
And Helmut everywhere.
Trilobeth became the mother
Of Trilobites—no other
Rulers of the sea
Could match their dynasty.
Through their great conquest
They brought at their behest
The Yakutian era's dawn
When old ways were withdrawn.
Great Trilobeth bore two sons:
Redlich when day begun
And Agnos, wise and old,
With stories to be told.
From Redlich came the line
Of houses most divine:
Corynex built his house
With wisdom to espouse.
From Corynex came Lichida
Who built his great armada.
His house grew strong and wide
With fortune as their guide.
From Lichida came Odontos,
Builder of great crontos.
His spiny house arose
To challenge all his foes.
From Ptychos, Redlich's brother,
Came four sons like no other:
Proetes strong and true,
Asaphus of waters blue,
Harpeth of the deeps,
And Phacos, who never sleeps.
Each founded their own line
With characteristics fine.
The Trilobites spread wide
Across the ocean's tide.
For millions of years they reigned
While other life was chained.
The rulers of the sea
Through all their dynasty.
Their compound eyes could see
Through all eternity.
No detail could escape
Their vision's perfect shape.
Segmented bodies bore
Legs numbering by the score.
Each segment had its pair
To walk through water fair.
They molted as they grew
Like arthropods still do.
Each stage brought greater size
Beneath the ocean skies.
The Yakutian time had come
When Trilobites were sum
Of all success could be
In their vast dynasty.
From Arthur's innovation
Came this radiation:
Insects, spiders, crabs,
Each with different grabs.
The Sea Spiders so strange
Extended their full range
With organs in each limb—
A body plan quite slim.
The Crustaceans in the sea
Built their dynasty.
The insects on the land
Spread with courage grand.
The arachnids eight-legged
From Chelicer were pledged.
In shadows they would dwell
With stories they could tell.
But none could match the fame
Of Trilobites by name.
For eons they held sway
Until their final day.
From Pantopus and Pyka's love
To rulers high above,
Arthur's legacy spread
Long after he was dead.
In every arthropod
That walks upon the sod,
His biramous limb design
Lives on through space and time.
The double-legged innovation
Sparked this radiation
That filled both sea and land
With creatures truly grand.
In every spider's web
That catches life's ebb,
In every insect's flight
Through day and through the night,
In every lobster's claw
That follows nature's law,
In every crab that walks
Where ocean beauty talks,
Remember Arthur's art
That gave them all their start.
The Ironfoot legacy
Lives through eternity.
The sons of Arthur proved
How innovation moved
The world from simple forms
To complexity that warms
The heart of those who see
This vast diversity.
From one ancestral line
Came forms both crude and fine.
The Yakutian age begun
When Trilobites had won
Their place as rulers true
Of waters deep and blue.
But time would show again
That even greatest men
And creatures in their prime
Must yield to passing time.
Yet Arthur's gift lives on
From dusk until the dawn
In every jointed leg
That walks where life does beg
For forms both strong and true
To see the journey through.
The arthropods remain
Through sunshine and through rain.