if necessary. If need be cut
out his tongue. I do not like the sound of the fellow's voice. It
annoys me very much.

THE SERVANT. O king, thy orders were obeyed even yesterday.

THE KING (_frowning_). No. That cannot be. A beggar cannot cry for
bread who has no tongue.

THE SERVANT. Behold he can--if he has grown another.

THE KING. What! Why, men are not given more than one tongue in a
lifetime. To have more than one tongue is treason.

THE SERVANT. If it is treason to have more than one tongue, O
king, then is this beggar surely guilty of treason.

THE KING (_pompously_). The punishment for treason is death. See to
it that the fellow is slain. And do not fan me so languidly. I am
very warm.

THE SERVANT (_fanning more rapidly_). Behold, O great and
illustrious king, all thy commands were obeyed even yesterday.

THE KING. How! Do not jest with thy king.

THE SERVANT. If I jest, then there is truth in a jest. Even
yesterday, O king, as I have told thee, the beggar which thou now
hearest crying aloud in the street was slain by thy soldiers with
a sword.

THE KING. Do ghosts eat bread? Forsooth, men who have been slain
with a sword do not go about in the streets crying for a piece of
bread.

THE SERVANT. Forsooth, they do if they are fashioned as this
beggar.

THE KING. Why, he is but a man. Surely he cannot have more than
one life in a lifetime.

THE SERVANT. Listen to a tale, O king, which happened yesterday.

THE KING. I am listening.

THE SERVANT. Thy soldiers smote this beggar for crying aloud in
the streets for bread, but his wounds are already healed. They
cut out his tongue, but he immediately grew another. They slew
him, yet he is now alive.

THE KING. Ah! that is a tale which I cannot understand at all.

THE SERVANT. O king, it may be well.

THE KING. I cannot understand what thou sayest, either.

THE SERVANT. O king, that may be well also.

THE KING. Thou art speaking now in riddles. I do not like
riddles. They confuse my brain.

THE SERVANT. Behold, O king, if I speak in riddles it is because
a riddle has come to pass.

(THE BEGGAR'S _voice suddenly cries out loudly._)

THE BEGGAR (_outside_). Bread. Bread. Give me some bread.

THE KING. Ah! He is crying out again. His voice seems to me
louder than it was before.

THE SERVANT. Hunger is as food to the lungs, O king.

THE KING. His lungs I will wager are well fed. Ha, ha!

THE SERVANT. But alas! his stomach is quite empty.