Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/420

246 When he had done this, he said to the king, "My lord, your first question is resolved; I find in the four elements scarcely seven feet." "How?" replied the king. "What has this to do with the four elements?" "My lord," answered the soldier, "every man as well as every animal, is composed of the four elements." "Amen," said the king, "you have proved this very satisfactorily. Now then for the second condition; which is to change the wind." Immediately he caused his horse to be brought into the area of the court, and there administered a potion, by which the animal was made perfectly quiet. This done he turned his horse's head toward the East, and said, "Observe, my lord, the wind is changed from North to East." "How?" answered the King, "what is this to the wind?" "Sire," returned the soldier, "is it not obvious to your wisdom that the life of every animal consists in his breath, which is air? As long as he remained toward the North he raged fiercely, and his snorting was excessive. But when I had given him the potion and turned him towards the East, he became