"Then you know what it is?"
"Why, of course! Beans with pig's ear. Why, all your admirers throughout the kingdom know that."
I had now good reason to be proud! My nation, then, has some regard for me, after all. To others it presents bays, to me—beans.[108]
[108] In Hungarian the resemblance is closer still, babo meaning bean, and babér, laurel.
"In that case I'll remain," I said.
"In Kvatopil's time I was never permitted to cook beans, for he maintained that they make a man stupid."
"On the contrary. Pythagoras assures us that the bean contains the same component parts as the human brain."
Having thus rehabilitated the bean, I reverted to the real motive of my visit there.
"I should have come to visit you to-day even without a special invitation."
"Was there any special reason, then, why I should occupy a place in your thoughts?"