"What have you done to my body?" asked Peter.
"I was puzzled at first," said Hans, "to know whether I was Hans or Peter; but it soon came right."
"At first," returned Peter, "I knew not whether I was Peter or Hans, but as you say, it soon came right."
"Then the difference," remarked Hans, "is not my body."
"Nor my body," put in Peter.
"But," said they both, "ourselves!"
"Worse and worse," said King Jollimon, at the conclusion of the remarkable legend. "If there were four of you, I shudder to think what a bad story the fourth one would tell!"
"It is because we did not know your majesty's taste," said the man with the crooked back. "If you would hear us once more, we should please you better."
"I have heard enough," said the king; but upon second thought he consented that they should try again.