The Prophesies of Dr. Dolittle?

Dr. Dolittle and Tommy are getting ready to go on a trip. They are going to play "Blind Voyage", open the atlas and promise to go where the pencil falls, with eyes closed. Tommy says" Would we have to go to the North Pole?" And the Doctor repies.
"No. The rules of the game say you don't have to go any place you've been to before. You are allowed another try. I've been to the North Pole," he ended quietly, "so we shan't have to go there." I could hardly speak with astonishment.
"YOU'VE BEEN TO THE NORTH POLE!" I managed to gasp out at last. "But I thought it was still undiscovered. The map shows all the places explorers have reached to, TRYING to get there. Why isn't your name down if you discovered it?"
"I promised to keep it a secret. And you must promise me never to tell any one. Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me in a body and told me there was a great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew, they said, that human beings would do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal. So would I please keep it a secret. Because once people began coming up there to start coal-mines, their beautiful white country would be spoiled—and there was nowhere else in the world cold enough for polar bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to promise them I would. Ah, well, it will be discovered again some day, by somebody else. But I want the polar bears to have their play-ground to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay it will be a good while yet—for it certainly is a fiendish place to get to—
Prophetic.