ordered him to let the lion have some of the king's wine. "I will go with him," said the lion, "and see that I get the right kind." So he went down to the cellar with the cup-bearer, and when there, the latter wanted to draw him some of the ordinary kind, such as was drunk by the king's servants, but the lion cried, "Stop! I will taste the wine first," and drawing himself a pint, he gulped it down at a draught. "No," he said, "that is not the right kind." The cup-bearer gave him a side glance, and was going to draw some wine from another cask that was kept for the king's marshal, but the lion cried, "Stop! I will taste the wine first." He drew himself a pint and drank it off. "That is better, but not the right kind yet." The cup-bearer now lost his temper and exclaimed, "What should a stupid animal like you know about wine." Whereupon the lion gave him such a blow behind the ear, that he fell none too softly to the ground, and after he had picked himself up again, he did not say any more but led the lion into a small cellar, set apart for the king's wine, which no one else was ever allowed to touch. The lion again drew off a pint and tasted the wine. "We have come to the right sort now," he said, and ordered the cup-bearer to fill six bottles for him. After that they went upstairs, but as he passed from the cellar into the open air, the lion began to be rather unsteady on his feet, and the cup-bearer was obliged to carry the wine for him to the inn; the lion then took the handle of the basket in his mouth, and brought it to his master.
"See now," said the huntsman, "I have bread, meat vegetables, sweetmeats, and wine, such as the King himself has; now I and my animals will have our dinner," and he sat down to the table and ate and drank, and gave food and drink also to the hare, the fox, the wolf, the
