t
you behave like dogs in their presence. And when you fabricate your
records concerning your mythical departed masters, see to it that they
do not conflict with the records we fabricated concerning ours. It would
be desirable indeed if our Sirian-human society could be based on less
deceitful grounds than these, but the very human attitude we are
exploiting renders this impossible at the moment. I hate to think of the
resentment we would incur were we to reveal that, far from being the
mere dogs we seem to be, we are capable of mentally transmuting natural
resources into virtually anything from a key to a concert hall, and I
hate even more to think of the resentment we would incur were we to
reveal that, for all our ability in the inanimate field, we have never
been able to materialize so much as a single blade of grass in the
animate field, and that our reason for coincidentalizing the planet
Earth and creating our irresistible little utopias stems not from a need
for companionship but from a need for gardeners. However, you will find
that all of this can be ironed out eventually through the human
children, with whom you will be thrown into daily contact and whom you
will find to possess all of their parents' abiding love for us and none
of their parents' superior attitude toward us. To a little child, a dog
is a companion, not a pet; an equal, not an inferior--and the little
children of today will be the grown-ups of tomorrow.

"To return to the circumstances that occasioned my late arrival: I ... I
must confess, gentlemen, that I became quite attached to the 'mistress'
into whose house I sought entry when we first established our field and
who subsequently adopted me when I convinced her real dog that he would
find greener pastures elsewhere. So greatly attached did I become, in
fact, that when the opportunity of ostracizing her loneliness presented
itself, I could not refrain from taking advantage of it. The person to
whom she was most suited and who was most suited to her appeared
virtually upon her very doorstep; but in her stubbornness and in her
pride she aggravated rather than encouraged him, causing him to rebel
against the natural attraction he felt toward her. I am happy to report
that, by means of a number of subterfuges--the final one of which
necessitated the use of our original doorway--I was able to set this
matter right, and that these two once-lonely people are about to embark
upon a relationship whi