Fifteen Dogs (Andre Alexis)

Hermes took the opposing view, arguing that, for one thing, the human way of creating and using symbols, is more interesting than, say, the complex dancing done by bees. – Human languages are too vague, said Apollo. – That may be, said Hermes, but it makes humans more amusing. Just listen to these people. You’d swear they understood each other, though not one of them has any idea what their words actually mean to another. How can you resist such farce? – I didn’t say they weren’t amusing, answered Apollo. But frogs and flies are amusing, too.

In the cell beside Rosie’s, a grey Neapolitan mastiff named Atticus was dreaming of a wide field, which, to his delight, was overrun by small, furry animals, thousands of them – rats, cats, rabbits and squirrels – moving across the grass like the hem of a dress being pulled away, just out of his reach.

The more Nira spoke of these things, the more difficult it was for Majnoun to believe that any group of masters – especially human ones – could act in concert, whatever the purpose or end. So that both ‘government’ and ‘religion’ began to seem like very bad ideas.