146 LOLA 



side. One day I took her paw, saying : " Now 

 you must learn to rap ! And placing the little pad on 

 the palm of my hand, I first counted two with it, and 

 then continued up to 5 ; then I held my hand out to 

 her and said : " Ulse, rap 2 ! " and she actually did ! 

 I was delighted. I should add that before Ulse had 

 learnt to " give a paw," she had already, of herself, 

 shown inclinations to " rap," for she would hold up 

 her paw gesticulating with it in the air I These 

 vague " pawings," moreover, were distinctly the 

 movements of rapping, although she, of course, did not 

 know their meaning at the time. And so the ground 

 was laid for further work, during the short time I had 

 to spare for her as well as the limited period she was 

 yet to remain with me. 



There can be no doubt but that heredity plays a 

 great role in these cases ; her quick responsiveness 

 bore witness to this, while, in addition, Lola evidently 

 regarded her as the " flower of her flock," for she had 

 always singled Ulse out for special attentions, generally 

 retiring with her alone to a distant part of the barn. 

 The question is whether Lola may not have given her 

 some instruction, for, to some remark of mine, she 

 had once replied : " Teaching Ulse 1 " Yet, for my 

 part, I feel doubtful whether animals do transmit to 

 others of their kind the things taught them by human 

 beings. However, this may be, Ulse seemed pre- 

 destined, so to speak, to learn to count and spell, 

 mastering the numbers up to five in a fabulously 

 short time. Moreover, she rapped better than Lola, 

 or, rather, quite as well as Lola had done when in her 

 very best days, raising her small paw high, and then 

 bringing it down on my hand with a decided, though 

 rather slow, beat. Ulse was also soon able to signify 

 " yes " by two raps, and " no " by three, but I had 



