Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/176

166 a woman, a horse, and a jackdaw; and never more miserable than in the character of a king. Micyllus expresses great surprise at this statement: for his own part, riches are the one thing he has always longed for; and the reason for his having been so angry now at being awakened was that he was in the midst of a most charming and interesting dream—it was, that he had inherited all the great wealth of his rich neighbour Eucrates, and was giving a grand supper on the occasion. He had thought he should now be able to repay the insolence of his former acquaintance Simo, who from a cobbler like himself had become suddenly a rich man, and would no longer recognise his old associate. The Cock assures his master that in his present poor estate he is really happier than many of the wealthy and great; and he will give him proof positive of his assertion. One of the two long feathers in his (the cock's) tail—the right-hand one—has the miraculous power of opening locks, and even making a passage through walls: he bids Micyllus pull it out. The cobbler pulls out both, to make sure, at which the Cock is very angry, until assured by his master that with one feather he would have looked very lop-sided. Armed with this talisman (the same which Le Sage has borrowed for his 'Diable Boiteux'), the pair fly through the sleeping city from house to house. They visit amongst others Simo and Eucrates: they find the former hiding his money, unable to sleep, in an agony for fear of thieves; and the latter cheated and betrayed by his wife and his servants. And the cobbler goes back home a wiser and more contented man.