"An interruption; very good. Speak, north wind. Gentlemen, I am not

angry. The wind is loquacious, like all solitary creatures. There is no

one to keep him company up there, so he jabbers. I resume the thread of

my discourse. Here you see associated artists. We are four--a lupo

principium. I begin by my friend, who is a wolf. He does not conceal

it. See him! He is educated, grave, and sagacious. Providence, perhaps,

entertained for a moment the idea of making him a doctor of the

university; but for that one must be rather stupid, and that he is not.

I may add that he has no prejudices, and is not aristocratic. He chats

sometimes with bitches; he who, by right, should consort only with

she-wolves. His heirs, if he have any, will no doubt gracefully combine

the yap of their mother with the howl of their father. Because he does

howl. He howls in sympathy with men. He barks as well, in condescension

to civilization--a magnanimous concession. Homo is a dog made perfect.

Let us venerate the dog. The dog--curious animal! sweats with its tongue

and smiles with its tail. Gentlemen, Homo equals in wisdom, and

surpasses in cordiality, the hairless wolf of Mexico, the wonderful

xoloïtzeniski. I may add that he is humble. He has the modesty of a wolf

who is useful to men. He is helpful and charitable, and says nothing

about it. His left paw knows not the good which his right paw does.

These are his merits. Of the other, my second friend, I have but one

word to say. He is a monster. You will admire him. He was formerly

abandoned by pirates on the shores of the wild ocean. This third one is

blind. Is she an exception? No, we are all blind. The miser is blind; he

sees gold, and he does not see riches. The prodigal is blind; he sees

the beginning, and does not see the end. The coquette is blind; she does

not see her wrinkles. The learned man is blind; he does not see his own

484

The Man Who Laughs