"I find it very hard," said the learned watchdog, "to speak well of the rats and the mice."
 
He was talking with his visitor, Professor Screech¹ Owl², who perched on the peak of the kitchen roof and was engaged with him in a pleasant exchange of views and ideas. The moon was clear and everything was very still. All the world seemed asleep but the owl and the dog, and they were talking of many matters. For Professor Screech Owl was a knowing bird and he had, moreover, the most learned relatives.
 
"Of course, you know more than I do," Collie Dog hastened to add.
 
Professor Screech Owl nodded.
 
"And you may have heard in your travels of something which credits the mice with being other than thieves and rogues³. But for my part, I am skeptical⁴ of all the good I hear of them."
 
"There are mice, and there are mice," said the Professor. For this is one of the best ways to open a subject and draw a distinction. "I have rarely inquired into their morals, preferring to take them as I find them. In the matter of one's living one must not be too squeamish. Probably I have eaten moral mice and immoral⁵ mice, with indifference⁶. But I have heard that the mice in Belgium are the gentlest and sweetest of creatures. Have you heard of the Belgium mice, Mr. Dog?"
 
This was the point to which Collie Dog had drawn⁷ his visitor with intent. For no matter what subject you brought up, if you passed it over to Professor Screech Owl and showed him the respect and patience which is due to scholarly persons, he would refresh your mind with wonderful facts and you would be vastly improved and informed when he finished. So Collie Dog admitted that he was no book dog, and knew precious little about anything. This was not so, for he knew a great deal about sheep, the pasturing of cows, and the time for getting the mail, and he knew that the buggy meant business, and the surrey meant church, and he knew where his mistress kept the chocolate creams. Also he knew why the cook left, but he never told. But he pretended that blankness of mind which is a humility⁸ pleasing to superior students.
 
Screech Owl stared at the moon as though to recall what he could from his vast store of learning.
 
"The dates have escaped me," he began, "but it is the nature of the event, not the time which is important.
 
"Once long ago, as I was told by the great Arctic Owl, who is a sort of cousin of mine, the mice in the city of Ghent entered into a sort of league with the storks¹⁰. Ghent, as you know, is in Belgium."
 
This was news to Collie Dog, but he wagged his tail as if to approve. He was glad to know that Ghent was in Belgium, and he wished to seem pleased.
 
"Don't wag your tail!" Screech Owl spat¹¹ out at him. "I'm telling you history; I'm not asking you to have a bone. That's no way to act when I'm lecturing!"
 
Poor Collie Dog wished to laugh, but he only sat still and looked humbly¹² at the conceited¹³ little owl on the peak of the barn.
 
Professor Screech Owl suddenly grew quite himself again, apologized for his agitation¹⁴, and resumed:
 
"T............