owl has several times very
learnedly discoursed to me upon this subject, and I gather from him that
one principal reason why the rooks support the tyrant Kapchack, is
because they well know if he is not king some one else will be. Now
Kapchack, in return for their valuable services, has, for one thing,
ordered Ki Ki on no account to interfere with them (which is the reason
they have become so populous), and under the nominal rule of Kapchack
they really enjoy greater liberty than they otherwise could.

"But the beginning of the alliance, it seems, was in this way. Many
years ago, when Kapchack was a young monarch, and by no means firmly
established upon his throne, he sought about for some means of gaining
the assistance of the rooks. He observed that in the spring, when the
rooks repaired their dwellings, they did so in a very inferior manner,
doing indeed just as their forefathers had done before them, and
repeating the traditional architecture handed down through innumerable
generations. So ill-constructed were their buildings, that if, as often
chanced, the March winds blew with fury, it was a common thing to see
the grass strewn with the wreck of their houses. Now Kapchack and all
his race are excellent architects, and it occurred to him to do the
rooks a service, by instructing them how to bind their lower courses, so
that they should withstand the wind.

"With some difficulty, for the older rooks, though they would loudly
deny it, are eminently conservative (a thing I do not profess to
understand), he succeeded in persuading the younger builders to adopt
his design; and the result was that in the end they all took to it, and
now it is quite the exception to hear of an accident. Besides the
preservation of life, Kapchack's invention also saved them an immense
amount in timber for rebuilding. The consequence has been that the
rooks have flourished above all other birds. They at once concluded an
alliance with Kapchack, and as they increased in numbers, so they became
more firmly attached to his throne.

"It is not that they feel any gratitude--far from it, they are a selfish
race--but they are very keen after their own interest, which is,
perhaps, the strongest tie. For, as I observed, the rooks live under a
limited monarchy; they had real kings of their own centuries since, but
now their own king is only a name, a state fiction. Every single rook
has a voice in the affairs of the nation (hence the tremendous cl