By the
aid of his friendly light, for which he was really much obliged -
a fact which, had his little friend known, he would not have left
it - he managed to make the circuit of his prison, which he found
rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for the walls and
floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole families of
which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched
remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great,
depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who
made frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots
with fierce, fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly
of the dwarf, especially in the region of the eyes and the
general expression of countenance; and he began to reflect that
if the dwarf's soul (supposing him to possess such an article as
that, which seemed open to debate) passed after death into the
body of any other animal, it would certainly be into that of a
rat.
He had just come to this conclusion, and was applying the flame
of the candle to the nose of an inquisitive beetle, when it
struck him he heard voices in altercation outside his door.
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