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Hilaire Belloc

The Frog

Be kind and tender to the Frog,

And do not call him names,

As "Slimy skin" or "Polly-wog,"

Or likewise "Ugly James,"

Or "Gap-a-grin," or "Toad-gone-wrong,"

Or "Billy Bandy-knees":

The Frog is justly sensitive

To epithets like these.


No animal will more repay

A treatment kind and fair;

At least so lonely people say

Who keep a frog (and by the way,

They are extremely rare).