"He never says an unkind word, And frown he never will. A smile is ever on his lips, E'en when he's feeling ill. And this is why: when Pollywog The first came on the scene, He had a temper like a cat's-- His eye with it was green. "Now, just about the time when he Began to lose his tail, To change into a croaking frog, He came across a nail-- A nail so rusty that it looked Just like an angle-worm, Except that it was straight and stiff, And so could never squirm. "And Polly, feeling hungry, to Assuage his appetite, Swam boldly up to that old nail, And gave it such a bite, He nearly broke his upper jaw; His lower jaw he bent. And then he got so very mad, His temper simply went. "He lost it so completely as He lashed and gnashed around, That though this happened years ago, It has not since been found. And that is why, at all times, in The Pollywog you see, A model of that virtue rare-- True Amiability." "Now, I dare say," continued the Bird--"I dare say you might have asked your father--who really knows a great deal, considering he isn't my twin brother--sixteen million four hundred and twenty-three times why the Pollywog is always so good-natured, and he couldn't have answered you more than once out of the whole lot, and he'd have been wrong even then." "It must be lovely to know so much," said Jimmieboy. "It is," said the Bird; "that is, it is lovely when you don't have to keep it all to yourself. It's very nice to tell things. That's really the best part of secrets, I think. It is such fun telling them. Now, why does the sun rise in the morning?" "I don't know. Why?" "For the same reason that you do," returned the sage Bird. "Because it is time to get up." "Well, here's a thing I don't know about," said Jimmieboy. "What is 'to alarm?'" "To frighten--to scare--to discombobulate," replied the Bird. "Why?" "Well, I don't see why an alarm-clock is called an alarm-clock, because it doesn't ever alarm anybody," said Jimmieboy.