The Zoo Proprietor and the Imaginary Beast

The other morning, while the business manager of Woodward’s Gardens was smoking a cigar and listening to the wails of a cat, a tall, thin man with a goatee and blue glasses entered the gate. 'Do you have any azimuths?' he asked. When the showman admitted they did not, the man expressed great shock. 'To think that a professor of cosmographic conchology should be denied admittance to a third-class zoo!' The stranger went on to list a series of bizarre, non-existent creatures—the 'skamgatibus,' the 'flipgoohly,' and the 'Siberian azimuth'—berating the showman for his lack of inventory. The exasperated manager, believing he was falling behind in the global competition for animal attractions, nearly decided to fire his New York agent, until it dawned on him that his visitor was playing a elaborate, nonsensical prank.