[Gaspode] turned to the wolf, and spoke in canine.
"Now then, Bum, this human is insane and believe me, I know a mad human when I see one. He's frothing at the mouth inside and he'll rip your hide off and nail it to a tree if you aren't straight with us, understand?"
"What was that you just told him?" said Carrot.
"Just explainin' we’re friends," said Gaspode. To the cowering wolf he barked: "Okay, he's prob'ly going to do that anyway, but I can talk to him, so your only chance is to tell us everything—"
"Know nothing!" the wolf whined. "She was with a big he-wolf from Überwald! From the Clan That Smells Like This!"
Gaspode sniffed. "He's a long way from home, then."
"He's a bad news wolf!"
"Tell it there'll be roast chicken for its trouble," said Carrot.
Gaspode sighed. It was a hard life, being an interpreter.
"All right," he growled. "I'll persuade him to untie you. It'll take some doing, mark you. If he offers you a chicken, don't take it 'cos it'll be poisoned. Humans, eh?"
Carrot watched the wolf flee.
"Odd," he said. "You've have thought it'd be hungry, wouldn't you?"
Gaspode looked up from the roast chicken. "Wolves, eh?" he said, indistinctly.
"Now then, Bum, this human is insane and believe me, I know a mad human when I see one. He's frothing at the mouth inside and he'll rip your hide off and nail it to a tree if you aren't straight with us, understand?"
"What was that you just told him?" said Carrot.
"Just explainin' we’re friends," said Gaspode. To the cowering wolf he barked: "Okay, he's prob'ly going to do that anyway, but I can talk to him, so your only chance is to tell us everything—"
"Know nothing!" the wolf whined. "She was with a big he-wolf from Überwald! From the Clan That Smells Like This!"
Gaspode sniffed. "He's a long way from home, then."
"He's a bad news wolf!"
"Tell it there'll be roast chicken for its trouble," said Carrot.
Gaspode sighed. It was a hard life, being an interpreter.
"All right," he growled. "I'll persuade him to untie you. It'll take some doing, mark you. If he offers you a chicken, don't take it 'cos it'll be poisoned. Humans, eh?"
Carrot watched the wolf flee.
"Odd," he said. "You've have thought it'd be hungry, wouldn't you?"
Gaspode looked up from the roast chicken. "Wolves, eh?" he said, indistinctly.
INTERPRETER, n. One who enables two persons of different languages to understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.
