Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/157

known and unknown, from the hyssop on the wall to the cedar on Lebanon, tell me, thou Solomon, which came first, the acorn or the oak?”—“The oak, doubtless,” replied the Gnome; “for the fruit comes of the tree.”—“Blockhead!” cried the doctor; “whence, then, came the first oak, if not from an acorn, which contains the essential germ of oaks?”—“That,” replied the wood cutter, “is a master’s question, which, I confess, is far beyond me. But let me, in turn, propose a question to you. Tell me to whom belongs the ground on which we are? To the King of Bohemia, or to the Lord of the Mountain?” (so was the Gnome now called by the people of the surrounding district, who had learned to their cost that Rubezahl was a name interdicted, and that whoever made use of it within reach of the touchy Spirit, was sure to get well kicked and cuffed, as the very least that would happen to them).—“This land,” replied the physician, without hesitation, “belongs to my sovereign, the King of Bohemia. As to Rubezahl, he’s a mere chimera, a nonentity, a name wherewith to frighten children.” Scarcely were the words out of his mouth, when the wood cutter became a monstrous giant, with fire-darting eyes and furious gestures, who, glaring ferociously at the wretched doctor, roared at him in a voice of thunder, “Rubezahl! rascal! Rubezahl: Ill Rubezahl thee. I’ll crack thy ribs, till thou art a nonentity thyself.”