nt, would attract, of course, the special attention of the
College of Sages in whatever community of Vril-ya you visited, and it
would depend upon the individual temper of some individual sage whether
you would be received, as you have been here, hospitably, or whether you
would not be at once dissected for scientific purposes. Know that when
the Tur first took you to his house, and while you were there put to
sleep by Taee in order to recover from your previous pain or fatigue,
the sages summoned by the Tur were divided in opinion whether you were
a harmless or an obnoxious animal. During your unconscious state your
teeth were examined, and they clearly showed that you were not only
graminivorous but carnivorous. Carnivorous animals of your size are
always destroyed, as being of savage and dangerous nature. Our teeth, as
you have doubtless observed,* are not those of the creatures who devour
flesh."

* I never had observed it; and, if I had, am not physiologist enough to
have distinguished the difference.

"It is, indeed, maintained by Zee and other philosophers, that as, in
remote ages, the Ana did prey upon living beings of the brute species,
their teeth must have been fitted for that purpose. But, even if so,
they have been modified by hereditary transmission, and suited to the
food on which we now exist; nor are even the barbarians, who adopt the
turbulent and ferocious institutions of Glek-Nas, devourers of flesh
like beasts of prey.

"In the course of this dispute it was proposed to dissect you; but
Taee begged you off, and the Tur being, by office, averse to all novel
experiments at variance with our custom of sparing life, except where it
is clearly proved to be for the good of the community to take it, sent
to me, whose business it is, as the richest man of the state, to afford
hospitality to strangers from a distance. It was at my option to decide
whether or not you were a stranger whom I could safely admit. Had I
declined to receive you, you would have been handed over to the College
of Sages, and what might there have befallen you I do not like to
conjecture. Apart from this danger, you might chance to encounter some
child of four years old, just put in possession of his vril staff; and
who, in alarm at your strange appearance, and in the impulse of the
moment, might reduce you to a cinder. Taee himself was about to do so
when he first saw you, had his father not checked his hand. Therefore I
say you can