"I am glad of that," said the king, "for there was nothing in it."
When Royalty Had Worst of It.
The laugh, however, has not always been upon the side of royalty. When the Prince-Bishop of Liège was riding to battle at the head of a fine body of troops he was asked by a spectator how he, a minister of religion, could engage in the iniquities of war.
"I wage war," said the prelate, "in my character of prince, not of archbishop."
"And pray," continued the interrogator, "when the devil carries off the prince, what will become of the archbishop?"
Decidedly the worst of the exchanges did an Eastern sovereign receive when, having bought several horses from some merchants, he gave them a lac of rupees to purchase more for him. Soon after they had departed, he, in a sportive humor, ordered his vizier to make out a list of all the fools in his dominions. The vizier did so, and put his majesty's name at the head of them. The king asked why. The vizier replied:
"Because you entrusted a lac of rupees to men you didn't know, and who will never come back."
"Aye, but suppose they should come back?"
"Then," said the vizier, "I shall erase your name and insert theirs."
In the answer which a German prince was given there seems to be a rebuke for his misgovernment implied. Having in a dream seen three rats, one fat, the other lean, and the third blind, he sent for a celebrated Bohemian gipsy and demanded an explanation.