“A piece of good luck!” said the king. “Where did you come across such a piece of good luck?”
“I found it,” said Jacob Stuck.
“Found it!” said the king; “and have you got it with you now?”
“Yes, I have,” said Jacob Stuck; “I always carry it about with me;” and he thrust his hand into his pocket and brought out his piece of blue crystal.
“That!” said the king. “Why, that is nothing but a piece of blue glass!”
“That,” said Jacob Stuck, “is just what I thought till I found out better. It is no common piece of glass, I can tell you. You just breathe upon it so, and rub your thumb upon it thus, and instantly a Genie dressed in red comes to do all that he is bidden. That is how it is.”
“I should like to see it,” said the king.
“So you shall,” said Jacob Stuck; “here it is,” said he; and he reached it across the table to the prime-minister to give it to the king.
Yes, that was what he did; he gave it to the prime-minister to give it to the king. The prime-minister had been listening to all that had been said, and he knew what he was about. He took what Jacob Stuck gave him, and he had never had such a piece of luck come to him before.
And did the prime-minister give it to the king, as Jacob Stuck had intended? Not a bit of it. No sooner had he got it safe in his hand, than he blew his breath upon it and rubbed it with his thumb.