you must be hot in
summer and cold in winter."

"It is not evening all day," cried the head groom. "Paaker never forgets
an injury, and we shall live to see him pay Mena--high as he is--for the
affront he has offered him.

"My lady Katuti," interrupted Nemu, "stores up the arrears of her
son-in-law."

Besides, she has long wished to renew the old friendship with your house,
and the Regent too preaches peace. Give me a piece of bread, steward. I
am hungry!"

"The sacks, into which Mena's arrears flow seem to be empty," laughed the
cook.

"Empty! empty! much like your wit!" answered the dwarf. "Give me a bit of
roast meat, steward; and you slaves bring me a drink of beer."

"You just now said your maw was no bigger than a fly's head," cried the
cook, "and now you devour meat like the crocodiles in the sacred tank of
Seeland. You must come from a world of upside-down, where the men are as
small as flies, and the flies as big as the giants of the past."

"Yet, I might be much bigger," mumbled the dwarf while he munched on
unconcernedly, "perhaps as big as your spite which grudges me the third
bit of meat, which the steward--may Zefa bless him with great
possessions--is cutting out of the back of the antelope."

"There, take it, you glutton, but let out your girdle," said the steward
laughing, "I had cut the slice for myself, and admire your sharp nose."

"All noses," said the dwarf, "they teach the knowing better than any
haruspex what is inside a man."

"How is that?" cried the gardener.

"Only try to display your wisdom," laughed the steward; for, if you want
to talk, you must at last leave off eating."

"The two may be combined," said the dwarf. "Listen then! A hooked nose,
which I compare to a vulture's beak, is never found together with a
submissive spirit. Think of the Pharaoh and all his haughty race. The
Regent, on the contrary, has a straight, well-shaped, medium-sized nose,
like the statue of Amon in the temple, and he is an upright soul, and as
good as the Gods. He is neither overbearing nor submissive beyond just
what is right; he holds neither with the great nor yet with the mean, but
with men of our stamp. There's the king for us!"

"A king of noses!" exclaimed the cook, "I prefer the eagle Rameses. But
what do you say to the nose of your mistress Nefert?"

"It is delicate and slender and moves with every thought like the leaves
of flowers in a breath of wind, and her heart is exactly like it