Hilaire Belloc 
Cautionary Tales for Children 

Upon being asked by a Reader whether the verses contained in this book were true:And is it True? It is not True. And if it were it wouldn’t do, For people such as me and you Who pretty nearly all day long Are doing something rather wrong. Because if things were really so, You would have perished long ago, And I would not have lived to write The noble lines that meet your sight, Nor B. T. B. survived to draw The nicest things you ever saw.