Then he said to me (very generously, by the way): 'Since you condemn
my adversary, I will not aggravate his position by telling you certain
things--'"
"What! against me?"
"Apparently so; but, like a generous enemy, when I told him that I
should most likely condemn you to pay him damages, he said no more about
it. For I will not hide from you, that, before I heard your reasons,
I fully intended that you should make compensation for the Prophet's
wound."
"See, Mr. Burgomaster, how the most just and able persons are subject
to be deceived," said Dagobert, becoming once more the courtier; then,
trying to assume a prodigiously knowing look, he added: "But such
persons find out the truth at last, and are not to be made dupes of,
whatever prophets may say."
This poor attempt at a jest--the first and only one, perhaps, that
Dagobert had ever been guilty of--will show the extremity to which he
was reduced, and the desperate efforts of all kinds he was making to
conciliate the good graces of his judge. The burgomaster did not at
first see the pleasantry; he was only led to perceive it by the self
satisfied mien of Dagobert, and by his inquiring glance, which seemed to
say: "Is it not good, eh?--I am astonished at it myself."
The magistrate began, therefore, to smile with a patronizing air, and,
nodding his head, replied in the same jocular spirit: "Ha! Ha! Ha! You
are right; the Prophet is out in his prophecy. You shall not pay him any
damages. The faults on both sides are equal, and the injuries balance
one another. He has been wounded, your horse has been killed; so you may
cry quits, and have done with it."
"But how much then, do you think he owes me?" asked the soldier, with
singular simplicity.
"How much?"
"Yes, Mr. Burgomaster, what sum will he have to pay me? Yes--but, before
you decide, I must tell you one thing, Mr. Burgomaster. I think I shall
be entitled to spend only part of the money in buying a horse. I am
sure, that, in the environs of Leipsic, I could get a beast very cheap
from some of the peasants; and, between ourselves, I will own to you,
that, if I could meet with only a nice little donkey--I should not be
over particular--I should even like it just as well; for, after my poor
Jovial, the company of another horse would be painful to me. I must also
tell you--"
"Hey-day!" cried the burgomaster, interrupting Dagobert, "of what money,
what donkey, and what other horse are you talking? I te
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