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 was to help neutralise the isolationist views still held by many Americans by giving pro-British speeches and discussing his war service; the United States had entered the war only the previous December, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. At this time Dahl met the noted British novelist C. S. Forester, who was also working to aid the British war effort. Forester worked for the British Ministry of Information and was writing propaganda for the Allied cause, mainly for American consumption. "The Saturday Evening Post" had asked Forester to write a story based on Dahl's flying experiences; Forester asked Dahl to