The Bad Child's Book Of Beasts/The Whale

by Hilaire Belloc

The Whale

The Whale that wanders round the Pole

Is not

⁠a table fish.
You cannot bake or boil him whole
⁠Nor serve him in a dish;

But you may cut his blubber up
⁠And melt it down for oil,

And so replace

⁠the colza bean
(A product of the soil).

The facts should all be noted down
⁠And ruminated on,

By every boy in Oxford town
⁠Who wants to be a Don.