At logic few with him could vie;
To his peculiar sect
He could propose a fallacy
With singular effect.

So, when his Mentors said, "Expound--
Why eat good children--why?"
Upon his Mentors he would round
With this absurd reply:

"I have been taught to love the good--
The pure--the unalloyed--
And wicked boys, I've understood,
I always should avoid.

"Why do I eat good children--why?
Because I love them so!"
(But this was empty sophistry,
As your Papa can show.)

Now, though the learning of his friends
Was truly not immense,
They had a way of fitting ends
By rule of common sense.

"Away, away!" his Mentors cried,
"Thou uncongenial pest!
A quirk's a thing we can't abide,
A quibble we detest!