"Pressed? Why, I'm fixed in a vice--in a vice, I say! That Jew, Herr Amtshauptmann, that thrice cursed Jew!"
"What Jew is it?" asks the Herr Amtshauptmann. And the Miller twirls his hat between his finger and thumb, looks cautiously round to see that no one is listening, draws closer to the old gentleman, and, laying a finger on his lip, whispers: "Itzig, Herr Amtshauptmann."
"Whew!" said the old Herr. "How came you to be mixed up with that fellow?"
"Herr Amtshauptmann, how came the ass to have long ears? Some go to gather wild strawberries, and get stung by nettles. The sexton of Gägelow thought his wheelbarrow was full of holy angels, and when he had got to the top of the mountain and expected to see them fly up to heaven, the Devil's grandmother was sitting in the wheelbarrow, and she grinned at him and said: 'Neighbour, we shall meet again!' In my troubles, when the enemy had taken everything I had, I borrowed two hundred thalers from him, and for the last two years I have been obliged to renew the bill from term to term, and the debt has crept up to five hundred thalers, and the day after to-morrow I shall be forced to pay it."
"But, Miller, did you sign?"
"Yes, Herr Amtshauptmann."
"Then you must pay. What's written is written."
"But, Herr Amtshauptmann, I thought...."
"It can't be helped, Miller; what's written is written."
"But the Jew?..."