"
"But you brought me nae better means," said the king--"Geordie, ye
brought me nae better means. I was like a deserted man; what could I
do but grip to the first siller that offered, as a drowning man grasps
to the willow-wand that comes readiest?--And now, man, what for have
ye not brought back the jewels? they are surely above ground, if ye
wad make strict search."
"All strict search has been made, may it please your Majesty," replied
the citizen; "hue and cry has been sent out everywhere, and it has
been found impossible to recover them."
"Difficult, ye mean, Geordie, not impossible," replied the king; "for
that whilk is impossible, is either naturally so, _exempli gratia_, to
make two into three; or morally so, as to make what is truth
falsehood; but what is only difficult may come to pass, with
assistance of wisdom and patience; as, for example, Jingling Geordie,
look here!" And he displayed the recovered treasure to the eyes of the
astonished jeweller, exclaiming, with great triumph, "What say ye to
that, Jingler?--By my sceptre and crown, the man stares as if he took
his native prince for a warlock! us that are the very _malleus
maleficarum_, the contunding and contriturating hammer of all witches,
sorcerers, magicians, and the like; he thinks we are taking a touch of
the black art outsells!--But gang thy way, honest Geordie; thou art a
good plain man, but nane of the seven sages of Greece; gang thy way,
and mind the soothfast word which you spoke, small time syne, that
there is one in this land that comes near to Solomon, King of Israel,
in all his gifts, except in his love to strange women, forby the
daughter of Pharaoh.
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