Was sitting with One Ankle across the Knee of his Other Leg
The Historian was sitting with one ankle across the knee of his other leg, and had rolled round his thin calf the manuscript upon which he had been working. This manuscript was trained to roll itself up slowly round his leg whilst he wrote it.
Smaly looked carefully all round him. The Hen was sleeping, the two Fish slept also, the Historian slept profoundly without snoring. He had always wanted to be able to snore; but he could never succeed because of his beak, and therefore he had invented a sort of little suction-pump run by a motor, which he kept beside him, and which snored quite as well as a man.
Except Smaly and Redy every one was sleeping in the house of the Historian. Outside in the sun-baked square the Chief Contractor, the Confectioner, Mistigris, the Young Stork, and the Crow slept also, heaped one upon the other in a casual manner, only the Despoiler, who was always afraid that some one would find out that he was only made of cardboard, never slept in public. He always retired to rest in a little room under the roof of his house.
When Smaly had made quite sure that there was no one to see them, he took Redy by the hand and began gently to unroll the Historian's manuscript. Smaly and Redy began to read it to each other in low voices, word by word, like children who go upstairs one leg at a time. This is what they read:
The Despoiler, who was always afraid that Some One would find out that he was only made of Cardboard, never slept in Public
"Thursday, half-past three.