If

If

If you can keep your head when alligators are stealing all the bedclothes from your bed and keep your cool when, 15 minutes later, a greedy hippo eats your eggy bread . . .

If you can walk to school with your big brother although he really is a dreadful sight, and wave goodbye, although your lovely mother has turned into a monster overnight. . .

If you can cross the playground in the morning - a playground full of fearsome dinosaurs - and keep on walking when, without a warning, they raise their heads and roar and roar and roar . . .

If you can grin and bear it when your teacher, who really is a dragon through and through, tells you to sit beside a toothy creature who must have just escaped from Scary Zoo . . .

If you can lend your ruler - though he chews it - if you can let him use your felt-tip pens, if you can lend a hand - although he'll bruise it - and treat him just like any other friend . . .