They stopped just a casual look to take,
A casual word to say,
And each had a trifling suggestion to make
In a patronizing way.
The Walrus said, “Really, it isn’t half bad,
And shows lots of promise, you know;
Yet I think, for my part, though perhaps it’s a fad,
A Snow Walrus were more apropos.”
The Foxes, the Seal, and the Mink were afraid
They knew little of art, so they said,
But they thought he would show better taste if he made
A Fox, Seal, or Mink in its stead.
The Penguin said nothing, nor listened, but when
They’d finished, he ventured to say,
“It doesn’t look much like a Penguin, but then
Perhaps when completed, it may.”
They turned then to go; but the Eskimo—
Alas! he was seen no more;
The heat of his anger and shame and chagrin
Had melted the snow where the crust was thin,
And he’d sunk, so to speak, through the floor.
Heroes.
