Esio Trot – in fact – does know of a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs Silver: <poem> ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT, TEG REGGIB REGGIB, EMOC NO, ESIO TROT, WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU, PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU, EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG, TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF, TEG NO, TEG NO, ELBBOG DOOF.</poem> Mr Hoppy explains that these magic words, when whispered in Alfie's ear three times a day, will cause Alfie to grow bigger and bigger. Mrs Silver is
Roald Dahl language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters Astri, Alfhild and Else. Dahl and his sisters were raised in the Lutheran faith, and were baptised at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff, where their parents worshipped. In 1920, when Dahl was three years old, his seven-year-old sister, Astri, died from appendicitis. Weeks later, his father died of pneumonia at the age of 57. With the option of returning to Norway to live with relatives, Dahl's mother decided to remain in Wales. Her husband Harald had wanted their children to be educated in British schools, which he