There was an awkward silence for some time, and, at last, Girlie asked the King’s Minstrel whether he had found out what a Goo was yet.
“Oh yes,” answered the King’s Minstrel, immediately regaining his conceited air. “My uncle, the Duke, keeps an enormous quantity of them.”
“Oh! what are they like, please?” asked Girlie eagerly.
“Oh, the usual kind; some large and some small,” said the King’s Minstrel evasively.
“But what are they?—birds, or animals, or what?” asked Girlie.
“Well, to tell you the truth,” said the King’s Minstrel, “they are neither one nor the other, but rather more like the other than the one.”
“How many legs have they?” asked Girlie.
“A few,” said the King’s Minstrel.
“Oh dear! How many do you mean?” asked Girlie, who was getting rather impatient.
“Some at each corner,” replied the King’s Minstrel solemnly; and then, taking up her plate, he looked into it and inquired what she had fancied.