As a children's book of magical fantasy, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is not a work of deep literary significance; as such, it contains simple writing and simple characterization. One interesting scene comes near the end, after the Pelican successfully saves the Duke's jewels from a thief; the Pelican ends up with a hole in his beak from the struggle, but the Duke waves it off:

"Don't you worry about it, my dear Pelly," said the Duke, patting him on the beak. "My chauffeur will soon put a patch over it the same way he mends the tyres on the Rolls. Right now we have far more important things to talk about than a little hole in a beak."
(Dahl, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, amazon.com)

Naturally, a bird's beak is not so easily repaired as a car tire, but is a significant wound that could become infected. However, in keeping with the magical fantasy nature of the book, the wound is not only superficial, but easily fixed; this skips past the facts of the human characters speaking fluently with intelligent animals. This passage shows both the casual way the characters treat their magical world, the ease in which good people solve their problems (versus bad people, who are brought to justice), and the easy language of the book itself. The passage also shows (in subtle satire) the cavalier attitude of nobility to the problems of the lower-class; the Duke is not concerned with a potentially life-threatening wound, as he wishes to state his own opinions.