"Yes, sire."
"Well, in order to convince me of what you know, you will heal five men who are seriously ill and whom I will show you. If you do not cure them I will have your head cut off, but if you make them well I will thenceforward put his highness' health in your charge."
"Can you not make it four instead of five, sire?"
"No, five; and if not, you know what to expect."
"Well, then, I will cure them. Where are they? I must speak to them alone."
With the emperor's permission he went to the room where the hopeless cases were. Even the most healthy of them had only two or three days to live.
The Quack Doctor.
On seeing them our quack almost fell in a faint.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I am going to cure you in the only possible way. The great magician Faramalla has taught me a wonderful system of curing. There is no invalid who cannot be healed by it. Hear it: