“O, my dear sir,” a peasant spoke up humbly, bowing [pg 100] to the Monk and scratching his head, “for the gentry it is only half bad, but they skin us like linden bark.”
“You stupid son of Ham!”[78] cried Skoluba, “it is easier for you; you peasants are as used to skinning as eels; but for us men of birth, us gentlemen accustomed to golden liberty! Ah, brothers! Why, in old times a gentleman on his garden patch——”
“Yes, yes,” they all cried, “was a wojewoda's match.”[79]
“To-day they even deny our gentle birth; they bid us hunt up papers and prove it by documents.”
“That's nothing for such as you!” shouted Juraha. “Your precious ancestors were peasants who obtained nobility, but I am of princes' blood! To ask me for a patent, showing when I became a nobleman! Only God remembers that! Let the Muscovite go to the forest and ask the oak grove who gave it a patent to grow above all the shrubs!”
“Prince!” said Zagiel. “Go tell that to some one else! You will find no end of princes' coronets in this district.”
“You have a cross in your coat of arms,” shouted Podhajski; “that is a covert allusion to the fact that a baptised Jew was a member of your line.”
“That is false!” interrupted Birbarz; “now I spring from the blood of Tatar counts, and yet my coat bears crosses above a ship.”
“The white rose of five petals,” cried Mickiewicz, “with a cap in a golden field: it is a princely coat; Stryjkowski writes frequently of it.”[80]
After this a mighty hubbub arose all over the room. The Bernardine had recourse to his snuffbox; he offered a pinch to each of the orators in turn, and the wrangling [pg 101] immediately subsided: each accepted for courtesy's sake, and sneezed several times. The Bernardine, taking advantage of the intermission, continued:—