In the sea once upon a time O my Best Beloved there was a Whale and he ate fishes He ate the starfish starfish and the garfish and the crab and the dab and the plaice and the dace and the skate and his mate and the mackereel and the pickereel and the really truly twirly-whirly eel All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth so Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea and he was a small Stute Fish and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear so as to be out of harm’s way Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said I’m hungry And the small Stute Fish said in a small stute voice Noble and generous Cetacean have you ever tasted Man No said the Whale What is it like Nice said the small Stute Fish Nice but nubbly Then fetch me some said the Whale and he made the sea froth up with his tail One at a time is enough said the Stute Fish If you swim to latitude Fifty North longitude Forty West that is Magic you will find sitting on a raft in the middle of the sea with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches
Just So Stories a pair of suspenders you must not forget the suspenders Best Beloved and a jack-knife one ship-wrecked Mariner who it is only fair to tell you is a man of infinite-resource and-sagacity So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North longitude Forty West as fast as he could swim and on a raft in the middle of the sea with nothing to wear except except a pair of blue canvas breeches a pair of suspenders you must particularly remember the suspenders Best Beloved and a jack-knife he found one single solitary shipwrecked Mariner trailing his toes in the water He had his Mummy’s leave to paddle or else he would never have done it because he was a man of infinite-resource and-sagacity Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner and the raft he was sitting on and his blue canvas breeches and the suspenders which you must not forget and the jack-knife He swallowed them all down into his warm dark inside cupboards and then he smacked his lips so and turned round three times on his tail But as soon as the Mariner who was a man of infinite resource-and-sagacity found himself truly inside the Whale’s warm dark inside cupboards he stumped and he jumped and he thumped and he bumped and he pranced and he danced and he banged and he clanged and he hit
He stumped and he jumped and he thumped and he bumped
