The man turned and showed a sunken, famished countenance.
"Do you want supper?" said he roughly. "I have a mess in my pot that an emperor might covet."
"He does covet it, my friend," said the emperor, laughing. "What have you there?"
The man threw sinister glances at the well-dressed strangers, who jarred the funeral air of his cottage with untimely mirth.
"Did you come here to mock me?" said he. "Fine folks, like you, are after no good in a poor man's cottage. If you come here to pasture upon our misery, go into the house, and there you will see a sight that will rejoice the rich man's heart."
"No, my friend," replied the emperor, soothingly, "we come to ask for a share of your supper."
The man broke out into a sardonic laugh. "My supper!" cried he. "Come, then, and see it. It is earth and water!"
"Earth and water!" cried the horror-stricken Joseph.
The peasant nodded. "Yes," said he, "the earth gives growth to the corn, and as I have got no corn, I am trying to see what it will do for me! I have already tasted grass. It is so green and fresh, and seems so sweet to our cattle, that we tried to eat the SWEET GREEN GRASS." And he smiled, but it was the smile of a demon.
"Oh, my God!" cried the emperor.