Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/107

Rh have freed the land from destruction; behold the dragon's heads, which are the proofs of my valour; therefore recollect, every promise is a debt." As soon as the king heard this, he lifted the crown from his own head and set it upon the countryman's poll, who looked just like a thief on the gallows.

The news of this proclamation flew through the whole country, till at last it came to the ears of Cienzo, who said to himself, "Verily I am a great blockhead! I had hold of Fortune by the forelock, and I let her escape out of my hand: here's a man who offers to give me the half of a treasure he finds, and I care no more for it than a German for cold water; the fairy wishes to entertain me in her palace, and I care for it as little as the ass for music; and now that I am called to the crown, here I stand, like a tipsy woman with her spindle, and allow a hairy-footed bumpkin to pass me by, and let a rascally thief cheat me out of my trump-card." So saying he took an inkstand, seized a pen, and spreading out a sheet of paper, began to write:—

"To the most beautiful jewel of women, Menechella, the Infanta of Lost-Wits.—Having by the favour of Sol in Leo saved thy life, I hear that another plumes himself with my labours, that another claims the reward