a good remedy taken in time may save them from a serious illness, and perhaps even from death. . . .'
'Oh! but another time I shall not require so much persuasion. I shall remember those black rabbits with the bier on their shoulders . . . and then I shall immediately take the tumbler in my hand, and down it will go! . . .'
'Now come here to me, and tell me how it came about that you fell into the hands of those assassins.'
'It came about that the showman Fire-eater gave me some gold pieces and said to me: "Go, and take them to your father!" and instead I met on the road a Fox and a Cat, two very respectable persons, who said to me: "Would you like those pieces of gold to become a thousand or two? Come with us and we will take you to the Field of miracles," and I said: "Let us go." And they said: "Let us stop at the inn of the Red Craw-fish" and after midnight they left. And when I awoke I found that they were no longer there, because they had gone away. Then I began to travel by night, for you cannot imagine how dark it was; and on that account I met on the road two assassins in charcoal sacks who said to me: "Out with your money," and I said to them: "I have got none," because I had hidden the
