How Not to End a Picture Book

in which a tall child is ridiculed to the point of being "in pain," but delivers himself by rescuing his tormentor from a tall tree:

The End
(of your stiff neck)

{insert illustrations of cute little red birds}

Perhaps it is a joke? The book comes from a Canadian author/publisher, and maybe there's something I'm missing from the climate or culture. Either way, I don't think I'd read that last line to a child who has just been listening and agonizing over the tall boy's situation. It feels too much like a punch in the stomach--and after all that good, hard hoping you did for the story, too!