Answer:
"Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry.’"
Step-by-step explanation:
The excerpt is from Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories", a collection of origin stories for children. This collection of stories contain various tales of imaginary animals and how they came to be so and so.
The main title from which this excerpt is taken from is "How The Whale Got His Throat" where Kipling narrates an encounter between a whale and "a small ‘Stute Fish". As the whale had already eaten all of the fishes in the sea, the 'Stute Fish was all that's left, leaving the small fish to come up with some plan to escape being eaten by the whale. And in narrating this story, Kipling uses resonating rhymes that will engage the young reader, keeping them occupied and invested in the story. He depicts the animal characters in such a way that it catches the interest of the young readers, and helps them imagine how the animals are. Childish characterization of the animals, be it the whale or the small fish, and also using languages such as "really truly twirly-whirly eel" and he also makes the "Whale stood up on his tail", which all contributes to the imagination of the children.
And the best part of the excerpt that demonstrates his purpose of entertaining children is when he describes the small fish was the only one left to be eaten by the Whale. And "he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, ‘I’m hungry.’"