Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/221

 cook nothing in them; thou hast leather, but can’st not gild it.’—‘Hold!’ said I to the scoffing gentleman; ‘thou art thyself a bad shot; thy arrows fly wide of the mark. There are many things in this world which of right should go together, but which we nevertheless find far enough asunder. One man has a stable, and no horse to put in it; another has a barn, and no corn to thresh in it; a pantry, and no victuals; a cellar, and no wine; and finally, as the proverb has it, one man has the purse, and another the money.’—Tis better to have both,’ rejoined he; ‘and if thou art willing to put thyself under my tuition, I will make thee a consummate master of thy business. Thou already knowest how to make purses: I will teach thee how to fill them; for my trade is that of a maker of money. As, then, thy trade and mine go hand in hand, art thou willing that we, too, should go hand in hand, and make a common business of it?’—‘With all my heart,’ said I, ‘if you are an authorized master of the mint anywhere; but if you work on your own private account, ’tis a business that smacks too strongly of the gallows for my taste.’—‘Nothing venture, nothing have,’ returned he; ‘if you won’t eat of my dish, let it alone. We must all die once; and some day, if we would not die of hunger, must run the risk of a jump from the tree.’—‘There is this small difference,’ replied I,