Стража! Стража!

           Fo-"

           "Oook!"

           "The?The.Secondword...thirdword?Smallword.The?A?To?Of?Fro-Of?Of.ThesomethingOfsomething.Secondword.What?Oh.Firstsyllable.Fingers?Touchingyourfingers.Thumbs."

           Theorangutangrowledandtuggedtheatricallyatonelargehairyear.

           "Oh,soundslike.Fingers?Hand?Addingup.Sums.Cutoff.Smallerword...Sum.Sum!Secondsyllable.Small.Verysmallsyllable.A.In.Un.On.On!Sum.On.SumOn.Summon!Summon-er?Summoning?Summoning.Summoning.TheSummoningofSomething.Thisisfun,isn’tit!Fourthword.Wholeword-"

           HepeeredintentlyastheLibrariangyratedmysteriously.

           "Bigthing.Hugebigthing.Flapping.Greatbigflappingleapingthing.Teeth.Huffing.Blowing.Greatbighugeblowingflappingthing."SweatbrokeoutonCarrot’sforeheadashetriedobedientlytounderstand."Suckingfingers.Suckingfingersthing.Burnt.Hot.Greatbighotblowingflappingthing..."

           TheLibrarianrolledhiseyes.Homosapiens?Youcouldkeepit.

           Thegreatdragondancedandspunandtrodtheairoverthecity.Itscolourwasmoonlight,gleamingoffitsscales.Sometimesitwouldtwistandglidewithdeceptivespeedovertherooftopsforthesheerjoyofexisting.

           Anditwasallwrong,Vimesthought.Partofhimwasmarvellingatthesheerbeautyofthesight,butaninsistent,weasellylittlegroupofbraincellsfromthewrongsideofthesynapseswasscrawlingitsgraffitionthewallsofwonderment.

           It’sabloodygreatlizard,theyjeered.Mustweightons.Nothingthatbigcanfly,notevenonbeautifulwings.