d at the
conviction that a real poem has got to be something other than a
confused jumble of words shaken together under the influence of a
crude, jejeune delirium, and threw all his own (so-called) poetry, of
which he had had such a tremendous opinion, into the fire, becoming
once more quite the sensible young gentleman, clear and open in heart
and mind, which he had been originally.

And one morning Herr Dapsul did actually come down from his
astronomical tower to go to church with Fraeulein Aennchen and Herr
Amandus von Nebelstern on the occasion of their marriage.

They led an exceedingly happy wedded life. But as to whether Herr
Dapsul's union with the Sylphide Nehabilah ever actually came to
anything the Chronicle of Dapsulheim is silent.

During the reading of this the Friends had laughed a good deal, and
they were unanimously of opinion that, though there was not a great
deal in the plot, yet that the details were so humorous and droll that,
as a whole, the tale was a success.

"As to the plot," Vincenz said, "there is rather a curious circumstance
connected with that. Not long since, happening to be dining at the
table of a certain lady of princely rank, there was a lady present who
had on a gold ring with a beautiful topaz, of which the remarkably
antique-looking form and workmanship attracted universal attention. We
thought it had been some precious heirloom, and were astonished to hear
that it had been found sticking on a carrot dug up on her property a
few years previously. Probably it had been lying pretty deep in the
ground, and had been brought towards the surface when the land was
trenched, so that the carrot had grown through it.

"The Princess pointed out what a good idea for a story this suggested,
and wished that I should set to work to write one at once on the
subject. So, you see, I hadn't far to go for the idea of the 'Vegetable
King and his People,' and I claim the invention of them for myself, for
there isn't a trace of him to be found in Gabalis or any other book of
the kind."

"Now," said Lothair, "I think we may say that on none of our former
Serapion evenings has our fare been of a more various character than
to-night. And it is good that we have managed to emerge from that
gruesome darkness into which we had wandered somehow--I am sure it is
hard to tell why--into the clear, brightsome light of day, although, no
doubt, a serious, careful person might, with some reason, say that al