“WHAT do you
Mean
By
Talking to
ME
Like that?”
(He was so angry, you see, that he leaped into free verse, a thing which had always been against his principles.)
When the clams had laughed until they could laugh no more, and had rolled over in the sand to wipe the perspiration off their shells, the most imposing clam answered him.
“Ha! ha!” she said (I am quite sure it was a “she”), “the idea of a giant who only eats rhubarb ... he! he! ... the idea of his being called Gobble-me-up!”
At this all the other clams went off into wild gales of laughter, and snapped their shells to show how very funny they thought it was.