“Who told you so?”
“I know it without being told.”
“How?”
“Listen. Do you want to know what these two things are,—the bellows and the brush?”
“The bellows is a horseshoe crab. If you turn it over you will see it has ten legs like a lobster. The brush is a sea fan. The little plants, which were stolen from your conservatories, are simply coral polyps. All except the crab are zoöphytes.”
“Now do you see, my great Mr. Pinocchio, why I cannot very well believe all your tales?”
Pinocchio was simply breathless. “Zoöphyte! Zoöphyte!” he exclaimed. “What does that big word mean?”
“Oh,” replied Globicephalous, with a learned air. “That word means an animal that looks like a plant.”
“By the way, I remember you asked Mr. Tursio for a feather to put in your cap. Here it is.” And Globicephalous gave the marionette a long, delicate, feathery object of a bright yellow color.
“And what is this?”