"
"Then, sir, let me read the omen as a lesson, and avoid my kinsmen's
mistake."
My father smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. "You say little, as
a rule, Prosper. It is a good fault in kings."
We walked back to the churchyard, where Mr. Fett sat up, rubbing his
eyes in the dawn, and hailed us.
"Good morning, signors! I have been dreaming that I came to a
kingdom which, indeed, seemed to be an island, but on inspection
proved to be a mushroom. What interpretation have you when a man
dreams of mushrooms?"
"Why, this," said I, "that we passed some score of them in the meadow
below. I saw them plain by the moonlight, and kicked at them to make
sure."
"I did better," said Mr. Fett; I gathered a dozen or two in my cap,
foreseeing breakfast. Faith, and while you have been gadding I might
have had added a rasher of bacon. Did you meet any hogs on your way?
But no; they turned back and took the path that appears to run up to
the woods yonder."
"Hogs?" queried my father.
"They woke me, nosing and grunting among the nettles by the wall--
lean, brown beasts, with Homeric chines, and two or three of them
huge as the Boar of Calydon.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272