He trotted away to where some of the other dogs were gazing steadfastly up into heaven, and poking some of them in the ribs he cried, “Fleas, fleas;” then leaving them to growl and curse his disturbance of their meditations, he trotted down to a group that were gazing far away over the pond, and poking some of their ribs, he cried, “Fleas, ye blind! Fleas;” and leaving them to snarl and curse, he betook himself to the public places where sundry groups were gazing and barking towards the East and towards the West, and towards the North and towards the South, and cried aloud, “Fleas, ye fools! Fleas.” But most of the dogs, whose gazing was thus rudely disturbed, took umbrage thereat, and chased him, and demanded to know why he had thus violently and ill-behavedly broken in upon their meditations?
“Because,” said he, “I want you to look in the right direction; I have just found out what is amiss with us all—it is fleas; Fleas, and nothing but fleas.”
But the heavenward gazers said: “Not so; our troubles come from above; it is Heaven that hath mysteriously, but, no doubt, in infinite wisdom, afflicted us, as say the salaried barkers.”
“Heaven!” cried another crowd, “Nonsense; they do not; any fool can see they come from the East.”
“Yes, and none but fools can see they come from the East or from Heaven; all wise dogs know they come from the West, from the land of the almond-eyed, long-tailed Yellow Dog,” cried the Westward gazers, who themselves had come from the East.
“A fine lot of wise dogs ye are!” cried the Southward gazers, “since it’s as plain as daylight that our hunger and poverty are entirely from the South, in the shape of those inferior kinky-haired Black Dogs that are used to hunger and can bear it better than we.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! He! He! He!” laughed the Northward gazers. “Come off, do. That is the silliest explanation yet. Anyone with the smallest and feeblest faculty of observation can see that the North is the only and all sufficient source of all our afflictions.”
“Bah! Fools and idiots that ye are!” yelled the pondward gazers. “Ye are all wrong; any one can see that our troubles are all due to the coming of those dirty dogs from over the pond, from Hungryland, Dirtland and Choleraland.”
“Yes,” cried a little crowd that had arrived but a short time from thence, “It’s a shame to allow so many in, filling up the country and snatching our bones. There ought to be a law passed.”
