“Well, what is it?” asked Ruhet, of his wise man. “It cannot be a human voice.”
“It is a machine,” said Nicht Wahr. “I heard of it at Byzantium.”
(He always spoke of Byzantium when he didn’t know.)
“It is English,” said Weiss Nicht.
“And what is that?” asked Ruhet.
“A language,” answered Nicht Wahr, pompously. “Spoken by a machine.”
“What does it say?”
“It says ‘Good morning,’ excellency,” answered Nicht Wahr, “and ‘How do you do?’”
“It says ‘Surrender or I’ll shoot,’” said Weiss Nicht, gruffly. “I understand English.”
Wahr sulked magnificently.