"There are a great many reasons why unhappy people might angrily pursue one of their fellows. Many of these are punitive, and involve imprisonment, death, or torture. It is in the nature of most intelligent creature to become irate when an item of some variety that they had believed to be reserved for their exclusive use is suddenly discovered to not exclusive at all. To put it another way: most individuals are very upset to discover that some well-loved item object has been appropriated without any forewarning or guarantee of return, for the thing in question might be broken, or lost forever, or simply never returned by the other person at all."
Willoughby rummages around in his pockets, doffs his hat, peers at it, puts it back on, and is somehow holding a small blue-and-white porcelain statue of a three-legged cat. "For example," he continues, "this is the only statue of a three-legged cat that I own. In fact, it is the only statue of a three-legged cat that I have ever seen. If someone were to take it without my permission, then I would be irritated; if the other party refused to return it, I would be justifiably enraged.
Tell me, Corax... do you know what the word 'thief' means?"
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