That's why you are so good! After you do know, you will have to pretend
just what you are feeling now. If you can get that same expression and
stand just like you are standing now, you'll be a great success. To play
this part to perfection you have only to act and look as you do at this
moment."

"Mr. Pretty-Heart's Servant" was not a great play. The performance
lasted not more than twenty minutes. Vitalis made us do it over and over
again, the dogs and I.

I was surprised to see our master so patient. I had seen the animals in
my village treated with oaths and blows when they could not learn.
Although the lesson lasted a long time, not once did he get angry, not
once did he swear.

"Now do that over again," he said severely, when a mistake had been
made. "That is bad, Capi. I'll scold you, Pretty-Heart, if you don't pay
attention."

And that was all, but yet it was enough.

"Take the dogs for an example," he said, while teaching me; "compare
them with Pretty-Heart. Pretty-Heart has, perhaps, vivacity and
intelligence, but he has no patience. He learns easily what he is
taught, but he forgets it at once; besides he never does what he is told
willingly. He likes to do just the contrary. That is his nature, and
that is why I do not get angry with him; monkeys have not the same
conscience that a dog has; they don't understand the meaning of the word
'duty,' and that is why they are inferior to the dog. Do you understand
that?"

"I think so."

"You are intelligent and attentive. Be obedient, do your best in what
you have to do. Remember that all through life."

Talking to him so, I summoned up courage to ask him about what had so
astonished me during the rehearsal: how could he be so wonderfully
patient with the dogs, the monkey, and myself?

He smiled.

"One can see that you have lived only with peasants who are rough with
animals, and think that they can only be made to obey by having a stick
held over their heads. A great mistake. One gains very little by being
cruel, but one can obtain a lot, if not all, by gentleness. It is
because I am never unkind to my animals that they are what they are. If
I had beaten them they would be frightened creatures; fear paralyzes
the intelligence. Besides, if I gave way to temper I should not be what
I am; I could not have acquired this patience which has won their
confidence. That shows that who instructs others, instructs himself. As
I have given lessons to my animals, s