Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/308

 300 Kuno Meyer.

necessai"}' to know the writer's name and rank, lest from animosity, envy, or enmity towards the author, he should despise whatever useful things may be found in the book.

The book then takes the form of a dialogue between the father and son, and begins in this way : —

The Son : ' Good-day, sir. I have come to see you as it behoves an obedient and humble son to approach a loving and distinguished father, and I desire to ask you to have patience in listening to my questions and kindness in answering them.'

The Father : ' Since thou art my only son, it pleases me well that thou shouldst often come to see me, for we have many things to talk about, and I promise thee that I shall willingly listen to thy questions, and answer whatever thou mayst reasonably ask me.'

The Son : ' I have heard that common report, which I believe to be true, says that there are few wiser men in this land than you. Besides, you have spent your life with kings, and are an authority on questions of government and of law. Now, as I am to be the heir of your worldly possessions, I should also like to become the heir of your wisdom ; wherefore I would ask you to impart to me, as it were, the alphabet or elements of knowledge, so that I may benefit by your further instruction and follow in your footsteps.'

Thereupon the father, though he says he has been rather a king's man than a merchant, enlarges in the first place upon the duties of a merchant, on integrity, knowledge of law and of languages, bringing up of children, intercourse with men and with princes, rules of navigation, investment of capital, the times of day, the course of the sun, winds, seasons, moon, and tide, summer and winter in northern Norway. He then dwells on the thankless task of relating ' wonders' of distant lands such as India, and generall)' objects to speaking about things which he has not seen with his own eyes, or heard of himself Accordingly, he proceeds to mention some wonderful things which may be