Now the parrot,
every day, when I opened the cupboard, used to scream, 'Cupboard!
Cupboard! Cupboard!' with all his might. My problem was,
therefore, this: seeing that the cupboard was out of my reach and
that, therefore, I could not take his food out of it; knowing, on
the other hand, that I was able to raise myself above the level
of the floor by climbing the ladder; and having the words 'climb'
and 'ladder' at his disposal: would he employ them to suggest to
me the idea of using them in order to reach the cupboard? Greatly
excited, the parrot flapped his wings, bit the bars of his cage,
and screamed:
"'Cupboard! Cupboard! Cupboard!'"
"And I got no more out of him that day. The next day, the bird,
having received nothing but millet, for which he did not much
care, instead of the hemp-seed contained in the cupboard, was in
paroxysms of anger; and, after he had made numberless attempts to
force open his bars, his attention was at last caught by the
ladder and he said:
"'Ladder, climb, cupboard!'"
We have here, as the author remarks, a marvellous intellectual
effort. There is an evident association of ideas; cause is linked
with effect; and examples such as this lesson appreciably the
distance separating our learned horses from their less celebrated
brethren. We must admit, however, that this intellectual effort,
if we observe, animals a little carefully, is much less uncommon
than we think.
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