LIEUTENANT. How can I manage to see the fellow, Mr. Bailiff? I should like to have a talk with him. Is he a likely looking fellow?
JESPER. Oh, he looks pretty well, and he has a mouth like a razor.
LIEUTENANT. That makes no difference, so long as he's strong and active.
JESPER. He can say anything he wants, and maintain it. He proved beyond a doubt that Peer the deacon was a cock.
LIEUTENANT. Is he good and broad across the shoulders?
JESPER. A big, strong lad. Every one in the house here is afraid of him, even his parents, for he can turn them into cows, oxen, and horses, then back again into people,—that is, he can prove that they are, from books.
LIEUTENANT. Does he look as if he could stand knocking about?
JESPER. And he proved that the earth was round, too.
LIEUTENANT. That doesn't matter to me. Does he look as if he were brave, and had a stout heart?
JESPER. He would stake his life for a letter of the alphabet, not to mention anything else. He has set every one here by the ears, but that makes no difference to him—he won't budge from his opinions and his learning.