Envoi, and a warning against playing with dangerous toys and dabbling in speculative theology

George, Who Played With a Dangerous Toy and Suffered a Catastrophe of Considerable Dimensions

by Hilaire Belloc

When George’s Grand Mama was told
that George had been as good as Gold
She promised in the Afternoon
to buy him an immense BALLOON;

And so she did, but when it came
It got into the candle flame
And being of a dangerous sort
Exploded! with a loud report

The lights went out! The windows broke!
The room was filled with reeking smoke
And in the darkness, shrieks and yells
Were mingled with electric bells
And falling masonry and groans
And crunching as of broken bones

And dreadful shrieks when, worst of all
The house itself began to fall!
It tottered, shuddering to and fro
Then crashed onto the street below -
Which happened to be Saville Row

When help arrived, among the dead
Were Cousin Mary, Little Fred,
The Footmen (both of them), the Groom,
The man that cleaned the billiard room,

The Chaplain and the Still-Room Maid
And I am dreadfully afraid
That Monsieur Champignon the Chef
May now be permanently deaf -
And both his aides are much the same
While George, who was in part to blame
Received, you will regret to hear
A nasty lump behind the ear.

Moral

The moral is that little boys
Should not be given dangerous toys