You can always keep the Lamb good and happy for quite a long time if you play the Noah’s Ark game with him. It is quite simple. He just sits on your lap and tells you what animal he is, and then you say the little poetry piece about whatever animal he chooses to be.
Of course, some of the animals, like the zebra and the tiger, haven’t got any poetry, because they are so difficult to rhyme to. The Lamb knows quite well which are the poetry animals.
‘I’m a baby bear!’ said the Lamb, snugging down; and Anthea began:
‘I love my little baby bear,
I love his nose and toes and hair;
I like to hold him in my arm,
And keep him VERY safe and warm.’
And when she said ‘very’, of course there was a real bear’s hug.
Then came the eel, and the Lamb was tickled till he wriggled exactly like a real one:
‘I love my little baby eel,
He is so squidglety to feel;
He’ll be an eel when he is big—
But now he’s just—a—tiny SNIG!’
Perhaps you didn’t know that a snig was a baby eel? It is, though, and the Lamb knew it.
‘Hedgehog now-!’ he said; and Anthea went on:
‘My baby hedgehog, how I like ye,
Though your back’s so prickly-spiky;
Your front is very soft, I’ve found,
So I must love you front ways round!’