Quickly Gud swung his staff again and broke the mirror into ten thousand pieces. Then he turned about and saw, by the contented look on the face of the Underdog, that nothing was no more. Gud was glad he had been engaged in breaking the mirror and so had not seen the finale of the chase, for thus he missed the suffering of the victim and yet could see the satisfaction of the victor.
Gud now looked at the staff in his hand and saw that it had borne a luscious fruit. He plucked the fruit and tasted it. At first it tasted very sweet but later the taste turned bitter in his mouth. Gud looked again at the staff which he had picked from the heap of discarded theories, and Gud saw that he held in his hand the theory of conquest. In horror he hurled it from him, and it struck the Underdog, who gave forth a great howl of pain.
Gud felt compassion for the Underdog and picked him up and nursed his wound, and the Underdog licked Gud's hands. Then he sat the Underdog down and started on his way, and the Underdog followed at Gud's heels along the Impossible Curve.
Chapter VIII
The Gogs are good, the Gogs are great,
They rule a realm of real estate.
Their greedy little eyes are slits
That vision beauty torn to bits,
And when the night's aglow with stars
They stagger through the lupinars.
The Gogs are good, the Gogs are great
We slave to rent their real estate;
We toil in their behalf like fools,
Obey their customs, creeds and rules,
Because each intellectual hog
Would like to be, and is a Gog!
Chapter IX
So they trudged along very happily until they met some one.
Gud was dumbfounded. "What can you be doing on this Impossible Curve?" he cried, "for I destroyed everything and my dog has eaten nothing. Speak up, sir, and tell me what you are before I annihilate you again."