AT THIS place of his tales, Beelzebub became silent and turning suddenly to his old servant Ahoon, who was also sitting there listening to him with the same attention as his grandson Hassein, he said:

“And you, old man, are you also listening to me with the same interest as our Hassein? Weren’t you yourself personally with me everywhere on that planet Earth and didn’t you see with your own eyes and sense for yourself everything about what I am relating to Hassein?

“Instead of just sitting there open-mouthed at my tales, you also tell our favorite something. . . . There is no getting out of it. We have got to tell him all we can about those strange three-brained beings, seeing that they have so intensely interested him.

“Surely you must have been interested in one aspect or another of these queer ducks; well, tell us something just about that aspect.”

When Beelzebub had finished speaking, Ahoon, having thought a while, replied:

“After your subtly psychological tales about all these ‘unintelligibles,’ how can I intrude with my tales?”

And then, with an unusual seriousness and preserving the style and even entire expressions of Beelzebub himself, he continued:

“It is, of course. . . . How shall I put it? My essence even was often thrown out of balance by those strange three-brained beings, who with their ‘virtuoso-caperings’ nearly always used to supply an impetus for evoking the being-impulse of amazement in one or in another of my spiritualized parts.”

And then addressing Hassein, he said: