Shall I ask why it is that the sagest of mammals

Is toothed with such splendour, for woo or for weal,

As compared with giraffes or hyenas or camels

Or wombats? Why man, when he falls to a meal,

Can suffer no tusk-ache

From marmalade plus cake

To rival the infinite sorrows that Hathis may feel?

These things I might prate of and should do with pleasure

Except that they're far from the point of my song,

Which is aimed at a dental adornment, a treasure