Here I have the red, and here the blue and the
green; and to me they seem all excellent, and yet shame each other.
A murrain on the trade! If it were not for the King that is a
priest and whom I have called my father, and if it were not for the
fair maid of the dun that makes my mouth to sing and my heart
enlarge, I would even tumble them all into the salt sea, and go
home and be a King like other folk."
But he was like the hunter that has seen a stag upon a mountain, so
that the night may fall, and the fire be kindled, and the lights
shine in his house; but desire of that stag is single in his bosom.
Now after many years the elder son came upon the sides of the salt
sea; and it was night, and a savage place, and the clamour of the
sea was loud. There he was aware of a house, and a man that sat
there by the light of a candle, for he had no fire. Now the elder
son came in to him, and the man gave him water to drink, for he had
no bread; and wagged his head when he was spoken to, for he had no
words.
"Have you the touchstone of truth?" asked the elder son and when
the man had wagged his head, "I might have known that," cried the
elder son. "I have here a wallet full of them!" And with that he
laughed, although his heart was weary.
And with that the man laughed too, and with the fuff of his
laughter the candle went out.
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