"Most polite of you," Long says with ten feet of grin.
He skritches, in a ruminative fashion, at his belly scales; takes the opportunity to arch his spine back against a tree for some cat-like rubbing there as well.
"Because we are not significant enough to them to hate us," is his phlegmatic, matter-of-fact response. "One can only hate that with the power to harm you, and we certainly do not possess that ability over our captors.
"Besides that, though, their actions are far more consistent with a basic lack of comprehension of us. If they wanted us to do nothing but suffer, why-- depriving us of food or water, or chaining us to racks for torments-- would all suffice.
"Instead they act like children with some captured mouse: alternately poking it with a stick-- not realizing that it makes the mouse suffer-- and at other times giving it toys and food and all manner of pleasures... as the child's brain understands them."
still in german, just tired of italics tags la la
He skritches, in a ruminative fashion, at his belly scales; takes the opportunity to arch his spine back against a tree for some cat-like rubbing there as well.
"Because we are not significant enough to them to hate us," is his phlegmatic, matter-of-fact response. "One can only hate that with the power to harm you, and we certainly do not possess that ability over our captors.
"Besides that, though, their actions are far more consistent with a basic lack of comprehension of us. If they wanted us to do nothing but suffer, why-- depriving us of food or water, or chaining us to racks for torments-- would all suffice.
"Instead they act like children with some captured mouse: alternately poking it with a stick-- not realizing that it makes the mouse suffer-- and at other times giving it toys and food and all manner of pleasures... as the child's brain understands them."