The Porcupine
What! would you slap the Porcupine?
Unhappy child—desist!
Alas! that any friend of mine
Should turn Tupto-philist.[B]
To strike the meanest and the least
Of creatures is a sin,
How much more bad to beat a beast
With prickles on its skin.
FOOTNOTE:
[B] From τυπτω=I strike; φιλεω=I love; one that loves to strike. The word is not found in classical Greek, nor does it occur among the writers of the Renaissance—nor anywhere else.