'When I apperceive - "you" perceive,' the owl pointed out to the rabbit, 'for I, alone, AM.'
'Cannot I say that too?' asked the rabbit.'When you are - you will,' replied the owl enigmatically.
'Is that the essential fact?' the rabbit inquired dubiously.'There are no facts,' snapped the owl.
'Then what can one say which is true?' queried the rabbit.'You are what I am: I am what you are,' the owl stated sardonically.
'How nice for me!' commented the rabbit politely, 'and for you?''Inevitably,' snapped the owl.
'Can we all say it?' asked the rabbit.'"Saying" is a conceptual elaboration,' the owl explained; 'we can all know it.'
'Even dandelions?' the rabbit inquired quizzically, nipping one off.'Why ever not?' the owl snapped. 'Dandelions are sentient-beings in so far as you are! And less greedy!' he added.
'Are we not all just a little greedy?' asked the rabbit with a nervous skip.'Differences, like preferences, are conceptual nonsense,' the owl declared.
'So that even you are neither better nor worse than a dandelion?' the rabbit asked nonchalantly.'As "me" no one and no thing is either better or worse than any other phenomena in mind: "better-and-worse" is conceptual balderdash.'
'How modest you are!' the rabbit commented admiringly.'Conceptual drivel!' the owl concluded. 'If you must chatter - talk sense!'
'But I eat dandelions,' objected the rabbit,' dandelions don't eat me!''And men eat you,' added the owl; 'do you eat men?'
'What a revolting idea!' said the rabbit, dropping the dandelion and eructating as if she were about to be sick.'And owls eat you,' the owl pointed out; 'does that make you feel sick too?'
'N-n-no!' the rabbit said hastily; 'that, of course, is an honour!''Not at all,' the owl answered; 'just a necessity, and sometimes a pleasure!'
'Always willing to oblige, of course?' the rabbit murmured with some hesitation.'Quite so, as you should be,' the owl responded courteously; 'unfortunately hardly anybody eats owls.'
'Not even rats?' inquired the rabbit.'Don't often get the chance,' the owl observed; 'not very choosy manifestations either. Hardly favoured by Nature, and generally unloved, poor things; perhaps if one asked me nicely I might oblige.'
