The Prodigal Dog, parts 4316 - 4319

 4316. One might want to avoid the tracing paper made by rubbing ordinary paper with turpentine because of the mess, but you can also turn the paper over, tape it to a windowpane, and trace it in reverse.

 4317. But why would you want to go through all the bother of replacing the missing parts of the pattern in an oriental rug, when the rug in question is only an inadequate analogy to begin with. It defies logic to go around repairing analogies for no apparent reason.   

 4318. What is required is a better analogy, rather than a repaired analogy, but this presents a serious difficulty. We want to describe how a dog’s knowledge, made up as it is with fragments of conversation overheard in passing, is like a…  

 4319. Here I draw a blank, and can’t think of anything to use for an appropriate comparison. If I were to suggest that the mind of a dog is like an unfinished painting, that also would not do, because the finished parts of the painting might perhaps suggest what the unfinished parts could be.