S'posing you could trot From Adelaide to the Pacific , For an afternoon 's run Half what these gentlemen did You would feel rather hot , But your legs would develop terrific -- Yes , my importunate son , You 'd be a Marvellous Kid ! THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS THIS , O Best Beloved , is another story of the High and Far-Off Times . In the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog , and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon , eating shelly snails and things . And he had a friend , a Slow-Solid Tortoise , who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon , eating green lettuces and things . And so that was all right , Best Beloved . Do you see ? But also , and at the same time , in those High and Far-Off Times , there was a Painted Jaguar , and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon too ; and he ate everything that he could catch . When he could not catch deer or monkeys he would eat frogs and beetles ; and when he could not catch frogs and beetles he went to his Mother Jaguar , and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises . She said to him ever so many times , graciously waving her tail , ` My son , when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he will uncoil , and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his shell with your paw . ' And so that was all right , Best Beloved . One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon , Painted Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree . They could not run away , and so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball , because he was a Hedgehog , and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would go , because he was a Tortoise ; and so that was all right , Best Beloved . Do you see ? ` Now attend to me , ' said Painted Jaguar , ` because this is very important . My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil , and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw . Now which of you is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise ? because , to save my spots , I ca n't tell . ' ` Are you sure of what your Mummy told you ? ' said Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog . ` Are you quite sure ?
Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a Tortoise you must shell him out the water with a scoop , and when you paw a XXXXX you must drop him on the shell . '
ARMADILLOS Adelaide Hedgehog Pacific Stickly-Prickly Times hedgehogs lettuces night right