ch.3, v.87-120 (catechism of the egg)

"And should the hand of human present to thee an egg from a chicken?
What dost thou with a gift of such worth?"

"Not one answer will suffice to answer this question,
For as many dogs as populate the world
So there are as many ways for taking the gift of an egg.
She who descends from the house of one breed and has grown up in the den of plenty, of full bowls and luxury,
She may sniff the egg with her nose and taste it with her tongue before taking it to swallow.
Yea, she may even bite of it only one half first to chew and to eat before retrieving the other
Never allowing the sharpness of her teeth to touch upon the weakly flesh of the human.
Thus she trusts in the hand and the egg and knows they shall abide in time to satisfy her hunger."



"But thine is not the house of one breed nor the puppyhood of plenty--
How dost thou with the egg of chicken held forth in the hand of human?"

"Yea, for she who descends from the abandoned barns and back alleys of canine anonymity,
Whose head and haunches are shaped by chance and promiscuity,
Whose name goes forth in the world as 'mongrel' or 'mutt' or 'heinz 57',
Whose puppyhood knew not snuggle balls and snausages--
She must linger over the egg of chicken neither with the sniffing of her muzzle nor the licking--
Nay, she wastes not the moment of generosity in queries and examinations
But seizes upon the riches of protein and fat that come before her."


"Thy counsel imparts great wisdom and knowledge unto dogkind,
But may it please thee also to address this quandary--
Should astonishment and trembling befall us upon receiving the egg
And should it then drop from our jaws and become unclean in the dust and the dirt,
What manner of redemption then?"


"Nay, this accident defiles not the oval portion of goodness
And need for redemption or even for delay impedes not the way of fulfillment
For as the egg itself is good so also is the earth that now coats its succulence.
It remains only for a dog to clean the lips of her mouth
And allow no morsel no crumb no iota, nay not even a particle of dust, to be lost."



"This truly is wisdom and experience, but please grant us further patience
And enlightenment as to this one last conundrum:
Should the hand of human or agentless circumstance bring before a dog
Instantly and at once a chicken and the egg of a chicken, of which should she partake first?"

"Yes."

[Here endeth the lesson.]

Commentary and Exegesis
The appearance of an interlocutor for Frida is new to me, but of course I have had many opportunities to observe Frida's communication with other dogs, so possibly this is the word distillation of a sharing of smells (one dog must know when another has eaten an egg) and body language. Maybe it also demonstrates the value of the dog elder, whose experience and judgement can be of value to young whippersnappers. Certainly Frida thinks it is her job to offer some guidance to young and rambunctious peers--she frequently takes it upon herself to bark at the tangle of playing adolesecents at a dog park.

I'm not sure why the "thee" and "thou" forms turned up in the queries here: maybe it also suggests the immaturity of the pupil, who is attempting formal sounding modes of address, somewhat awkwardly. Frida, of course, would not mind this, since she rather enjoys the obsequiousness of dogs even less confident than she is.