“An angel flying back to heaven after an errand on earth alighted on the cathedral roof. ‘Is all well here?’ he called.
‘All is well,’ chanted the stone birds and beasts and flowers in unison.
The saints turned from their contemplation for a moment. ‘All is well,’ they declared gravely.
‘All is well!’ shouted the gargoyles in their raucous voices.
The angel turned to one gargoyle who frowned from the very top of the corner between the north and the east walls. ‘You did not reply,’ he said. ‘Is not all well with you?’
‘No,’ answered the gargoyle sullenly, ‘it is not well. For two hundred years I have been up here and each day becomes more tedious than the last. I have no one to talk to. The birds and beasts and flowers have no conversation worth listening to; when the saints do condescend to speak, their thoughts are far too lofty for me to understand; and as for the other gargoyles—I am so weary of their stale jokes and their stupidity, their silly, ugly faces and their uncouth manners.’”