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96 the unspeakable words THERE WERE WORDS IN the Brett language considered so corrupting in their effect on others that if anyone wrote them or was heard to speak them aloud, he was fined and thrown into prison. The King of the Bretts was of the opinion that the words were of no importance one way or the other, and besides, everybody in the country knew them anyway ; but his advisers disagreed, and at last, to determine who was right, a committee was appointed to examine the people separately. At length everyone in the kingdom had been examined , and found to know the words quite well, without the slightest damage to themselves. There was then left [ 193 ] only one little girl, a: five-year-old who lived in the mountains with her deaf and dumb parents. The committee hoped that this little girl, at least, had never heard the corrupting words, and on the morning they visited her, they said solemnly: "Do you know the meaning of poost, gist, duss, and teng?" The little girl admitted that she did not, and then, smiling happily, she said, "Oh, you must mean teek, kusk} dalu} and liben!" Those who don't know the words must make them up for themselves. ...

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