CHAPTER XXIX 

 POLYGLOT ANIMALS 



A RECENT discussion on the use of Welsh in working 

 sheep-dogs is abundant proof that the revival of the 

 Celtic tongues, recently advocated, will meet with no 

 resistance from the canine population of Wales. They 

 have many of them been brought up to understand 

 Welsh from whatever corresponds to the cradle in a 

 canine nursery. On the confines of the Highlands the 

 dogs often understand both Gaelic and English. But 

 these polyglot collies are not very common, and the 

 greater part of the orders given to them, except such 

 ordinary phrases as " Go home ! " " Lie down ! " or 

 " Come here ! " are usually conveyed in the tongue of 

 the Gael. 



Ever since the dog became the servant of man he 

 has also had to be a linguist. If the annals of dogs 

 and men were searched, it would be found that the 

 former had in their day been proficient in the under- 

 standing of tongues dead for centuries, as they will be 

 in the future of the languages of nations yet unborn. 

 "Argo" doubtless obeyed the orders given by Pene- 

 lope in the most ladylike Ionic of the day ; the dog 

 of Alcibiades was no less proficient when addressed in 

 " up-to-date " Attic by the club porter in Athens ; and 



