“Hun,” he said. “But why not, that’s what you call yourselves, isn’t it?”
The censor looked astonished, and aggrieved.
“But surely, Captain Arnold, you know what is a Hun?”
“Not exactly, no.”
“Very good. I will show you.”
The next day the censor appeared bearing a history of Germany in three volumes.
“Now, Captain Arnold,” he said, “you will find here all there is to know. It is quite simple; no doubt you will be able to borrow a German dictionary, so that you can look up the words. You will find all about it.”
For three days Captain Arnold kept the books, and then returned them with many thanks and a promise not to repeat his insults.
“I thought you would understand,” said the German censor. “It is only ignorance on your part that makes you call us Huns; and now you will tell your comrades, and they will understand too.”
And the little man trotted off, happy in the thought that his race had emerged from the examination triumphantly vindicated.