"'Yes, dear subjects,' said the monarch tenderly, 'I have an idea to prevent the disasters caused by the Tartars who fall upon us every Monday and Tuesday. And this idea is...' (they all knelt down to hear the sublime words) '... to ask you if anything has occurred to you to avoid them.'
"'Well thought out!' said the courtiers in a chorus.
"'Therefore I will begin by asking the minister of war.'
"The minister touched the floor with his head and says:
"'Sire, between now and to-morrow I will answer your majesty: but I have heard briefly that, in order to avoid being overrun, what we ought to do is not to let them into the country.'
"'Eureka!' exclaimed the emperor. 'This being the idea of a minister of war is not at all bad. Let the audience rise; good-bye till to-morrow.'
"And chewing a boiled egg which they had just put into his mouth he lay down in bed again and went to sleep, after having formed that tremendous idea which had been forty years in coming.
"That very night the minister of war consulted the captain-generals, these their lieutenant-generals, these the camp-marshals, and so on until they came to the sergeants, and these asked the soldiers, without finding any who dared to propose a plan, until a soldier of the awkward squad, and the most awkward of the squad, said, 'Well, close the way with a mud-wall.'
"'Enough, stupid!' shouted the officer, and gave him a punch.
"The officer gave the idea as his own to the major, and the latter passed it on to the lieutenant. The major also appropriated the idea and they made him a colonel, and so all were advanced except the poor soldier, who rubbed his face with sand to take away the mark of the blow.