They were disturbed by speculations as to who would receive their pension for them; then they recalled the fruits, fish, hazel-hens, blackcock, and hares which they had seen that day.
"Who would have thought, your Excellency, that human food, in its original shape, flies, swims, and grows on trees ?" said one General.
"Yes," replied the other General; "I must confess that until this day I thought that wheaten rolls came into existence in just the form in which they are served to us in the morning with our coffee." "It must be that, for instance, if one desires to eat a partridge, he must first catch it, kill it, pluck it, roast it....

But how is all that done ?" "How is all that done ?" repeated the other General, like an echo.

They fell into silence, and tried to get to sleep; but hunger effectually banished sleep.

Hazel-hens, turkeys, sucking-pigs flitted before their eyes, rosy, veiled in a slight blush of roasting, surrounded with cucumbers, pickles, and other salads.
"It seems to me that I could eat my own boots now!" said one General.
"Gloves are good also, when they have been worn a long time!" sighed the other General.
All at once the Generals glanced at each other; an ominous fire glowed in their eyes, their teeth gnashed, a dull roar forced its way from their breasts.

They began slowly to crawl toward each other, and in the twinkling of an eye they were exasperated to fury.