The Prince was suddenly seized with a paroxysm of mirth, he could scarcely speak for laughing.
"That was the representative of Olahfalva," said he.
At the mention of this place even Anna could not forbear from smiling.
"The good folks of Olahfalva," continued Apafi, still laughing, "who carry people to church in sheets and beat watches to death!"
"I fear me the poor people are very much maligned. They are called simple, but methinks their ways are altogether crooked and crafty."
"But is it not true then that they carry ladders horizontally through the woods?"
"Yes; but why? You shall hear. Their Captain-General had forbidden them to waste the woods, but at the same time sent them out to pull down crows' nests; so to get at the nests they carried the ladders horizontally through the woods to have an excuse for hewing down every tree that stood in their way."
"Well explained! But at least you will not deny that in hilly districts they never plough to the end of their fields for fear that if they go right to the margin the earth will tilt over with them."
"They do that because the margin is of a rocky consistency which no ploughshare will penetrate."
"Then what do you say of their custom of choosing to represent them at the Diet those amongst them upon whom their obsolete, short skin-jackets sit the best? I'll swear I saw the self-same jacket now worn by the Olahfalva deputy at the Diet of Klausenburg twelve years ago, only then it was on some one else's shoulders."