* * *
The cortège which accompanied Tograth arrived at the hotel, and he was permitted to descend from their shoulders. Tograth turned to the crowd and addressed them:
"Citizens of Marseilles, in thanking you I could employ, if I wished, compliments that are fatter than your world-renowned sardines. I could, if I wished, make a long speech. But words will never quite encompass the magnificence of the reception which you have accorded me. I know that there are maladies in your midst that I might heal not only with my knowledge but with that which scientists have accumulated for myriads of years. Bring forth the sick, and I shall heal them."
A man whose cranium was as bald as that of an inhabitant of Mycona cried:
"Tograth! god-like mortal, all puissant savantissimo! Give me a luxuriant mane of hair."
Tograth smiled and asked that the man approach him: then he touched the denuded head, saying:
"Thy sterile pate shall be covered with an abundant vegetation, but remember always this favor by hating the laurel."
At the same time as the bald man, a little girl approached. She implored Tograth:
"Sweet man, sweet man, look at my mouth, my lover with a blow of his fist has broken several teeth. Return them to me."
The scientist smiled and put his finger into her mouth, saying: "Now thou canst chew, thou hast excellent teeth. But in return, show us what thou hast in thy bag."