"I beg pardon, your honor, but, on second thought, I believe I would rather have you speak to me as to a gunner of Nimeguen—according to European custom."
"Very good again—also. You gunner-fellow, take off your hat this instant!" he commanded, at the same time placing the cap on his head. "As it is contrary to our Christian laws to take a second wife while the first is still alive, I shall pronounce you guilty of bigamy, the punishment for which is the pillory first, and the galleys afterward."
This did not suit me either, so I interrupted:
"May I beg that you will speak to me as to an Indian sovereign?"
I put on my hat, but the burgomaster did not again remove his cap. He said:
"You had command of a province, and a pair of flying genii; therefore, it is quite within the bounds of possibility that you and your first wife were borne through the air to the meeting-place on the mountain you mention. That being settled, what else do you complain of? Have you lost anything?"
"No, your honor, quite the contrary; I have found something; a son I did not expect."
"Is the child living?"
"He is."
"Well—if he is living he is alive. That which is, cannot be denied—it is a fact, and that which is a fact cannot be termed fiction—"