“Please, my lord, I am going to take the other side now. Will you order Mr. Noun to come forward to be questioned?”

“Certainly,” said the Judge; and Mr. Noun approached.

“Mr. Noun?” said Serjeant Parsing.

“The same, sir,” said Mr. Noun; “all nouns belong to me.”

“You know a noun when you see it?”

“Of course I know my own words.”

“And you know an adjective?”

“Yes; an adjective is a word that tells something about one of my nouns.”

“Very good. Now can you tell me whether happy is a noun?”

“Certainly not. It is an adjective. You can say a happy boy, a happy thing.”