So, as I said before, they needed the pool and gladly put up with its presence, and it was considered common property. Once a civil engineer had been sent there by the county authorities, and he had called their attention to the fact that the pool ought to be filled up; but they just laughed at him, and left it as it was.
So now they had to go right round the pool to the "hotel," which strangers always named the "Frozen Sheep," in reference to the story I mentioned before. The gypsies were still playing inside, and outside several couples were turning in time to music, and some peasants were standing about drinking their glass of "pálinka" (a kind of brandy), while a wagoner from Zólyom sat alone at a table drinking as hard as he could. He was already rather drunk, and was keeping up a lively conversation all by himself, gazing now and then with loving eyes at the lean horse harnessed to his cart, and which, with drooping head, was awaiting his master's pleasure to move on.
"My neighbor says," philosophized the wagoner aloud, "that my horse is not a horse. And why is it not a horse, pray? It was a horse in the time of Kossuth! What? It can't draw a load? Of course not, if the load is too heavy. It is thin, is it? Of course it is thin, for I don't give it any oats. Why don't I give it any? Why, because I have none, of course. What's that you say? The other day it couldn't drag my cart? No, because the wheel was stuck in the mud. My neighbor is a great donkey, isn't he?"
Upon which, up he got, and stumbled over to the dancers, requesting them to give their opinion as to whether his neighbor was a donkey or not. They got out of his way, so, like a mad dog, which sees and hears nothing, the wagoner rushed upon Madame Krisbay.
"Is mine a horse, or is it not?"
Madame was frightened, and the smell of brandy, which emanated from the good man, made her feel faint.
"Mon Dieu!" she murmured, "what a country I have come to!"
But Mrs. Mravucsán, gentle as she was generally, could also be energetic if necessary.
"I don't know if yours is a horse or not," she said, "but I can tell you you're a drunken beast!"
And with that she gave him a push which sent him rolling over on his back. He lay there murmuring: