Anybody can have them--you can have them." He ignored my offer.

He said: "You threw these things out of window." "You are right," I admitted; "I did." "Why did you throw them out of window ?" he asked.

A German policeman has his code of questions arranged for him; he never varies them, and he never omits one.
"I threw them out of the window at some cats," I answered.
"What cats ?" he asked.
It was the sort of question a German policeman would ask.

I replied with as much sarcasm as I could put into my accent that I was ashamed to say I could not tell him what cats.

I explained that, personally, they were strangers to me; but I offered, if the police would call all the cats in the district together, to come round and see if I could recognise them by their yaul.
The German policeman does not understand a joke, which is perhaps on the whole just as well, for I believe there is a heavy fine for joking with any German uniform; they call it "treating an official with contumely." He merely replied that it was not the duty of the police to help me recognise the cats; their duty was merely to fine me for throwing things out of window.
I asked what a man was supposed to do in Germany when woke up night after night by cats, and he explained that I could lodge an information against the owner of the cat, when the police would proceed to caution him, and, if necessary, order the cat to be destroyed.