The Story of Tobias by Moses van Uyttenbroeck

—What does a dog know?

—Ask Nimrod. He knew that Rafayel was not people, by his smell. No oniony armpits, only celestial electricity, rich in ozone. Thorvaldsen, now, would have taken Rafayel to be a higher rank of bishop, and from Sweden. He would have stropped his leg. He would have sat across from him on an episcopal cushion, pretending to be of equal rank among ecclesiastical cats.

(from “Badger,” as printed in The Drummer of the Eleventh North Devonshire Fusiliers by Guy Davenport)