'You ought rather to ask me, why I do not
beat you, to cause this child such suffering! You are drunk pretty early
this morning!' 'I am no more drunk than you are; I was teaching a trick to
my ape; I wish to give a representation where he and Gringalet will appear
together; I am following my business--why do you meddle with it?' 'I meddle
with what concerns me. This morning, not seeing Gringalet pass before my
door with the other children, I asked them where he was; they did not
answer--they looked embarrassed. I know you. I thought you were after no
good, and I was not wrong. Listen to me: every time I do not see Gringalet
pass before my door with the others in the morning, I will be here at once,
and you must show him to me, or I'll knock you down.' 'I will do as I
please; I have no orders to receive from you,' answered Cut-in-half, riled
at this threat. You shall not knock me down; and if you do not take
yourself off from this, or if you return, I---' Flip flap! went the
Alderman, interrupting Cut-in-half by a duet of blows enough to silence a
rhinoceros: 'There is what you get for answering to the Alderman of Little
Poland.'"
"Two blows! it was too little," said Blue Cap; "in his place, I should have
given him a bigger dose."
"And he should not have had it too hastily," added a prisoner.
"The Alderman," replied Pique-Vinaigre, "could have eaten ten like
Cut-in-half.
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