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"Fighting a tiger was somewhat unpleasant," John Dolittle told Tommy Stubbins modestly. "The taunts before that were bad—from the hare. Obsessed with dung that one." He paused, mind seeming to turn to therapeutic mode again, "Perhaps because they have to eat their pellets. Nonethless, I've had wider ranging conversations with dung beetles. About their travels, you see."
Tommy did his best to look interested, as an apprentice should.
"Those beetles came over with the elephants and the giraffes," Dolittle continued. "Dung beetles do talk about dung sometimes, that's understandable. Still, I'm glad beetles and lions can't talk to each other. I don't interpret between them. What words the beetles would likely teach that cub if I did... His dear departed parents would haunt me."