to him.  The Hunter approached the master of the estate and inquired about the distance to the nearest city and the way to get there.  At first the Justice did not understand his strange-sounding language, but the daughter, without once turning her eyes from the handsome Hunter, helped her father to get the meaning, whereupon he gave the correct information.  Only after three repetitions was the Hunter, on his part, able to understand the reply; but he finally succeeded in making out that the city was not to be reached in less than two long hours, and then only by a path which was difficult to find.

The midday heat, combined with the sight of the tidy meal before him and his own hunger, prompted the Hunter to ask the question whether for love or money he could have something to eat and drink and shelter till the cool of evening.

“For money, no!” replied the Justice, “but for love the gentleman may have dinner and supper and a place to rest as long as he wants it.”  He had a tin plate, as clear and bright as a mirror, a knife, a fork and a spoon, just as bright as the plate, laid upon the table, and pressed his guest to sit down.  The latter fell upon the well-cooked ham, the big beans, the eggs and sausages, which constituted the meal, with all the appetite of youth, and discovered that the food of the country, which was everywhere decried as Boeotian, was, on the contrary, not at all bad.

Very little talking was done by the hosts, for peasants do not like to speak while they are eating.  Howsoever, the Hunter, on inquiry, managed to find out from the Justice that no man by the name of Schrimbs or Peppel was known anywhere around in that vicinity.  The farm-hands and maids, who sat apart from the seats of honor at the other end of the long table, kept absolutely silent and looked only at the dishes out of which they spooned their food into their mouths.  After they had finished eating, however, and had wiped their mouths, they stepped up to the Justice, one after the other, and said:  “Master, my motto;” whereupon the Justice addressed to each one a proverbial phrase or a biblical passage.  Thus to the first man, a red-haired fellow, he said:  “Proneness to dispute lights a fire, and proneness to fight sheds blood;” to the second, a slow, fat man:  “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise;” to the third, a small, black-eyed, bold-looking customer:  “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  The first maid received the motto:  “If you have cattle, take care of them, and if they bring you profit, keep it;” and to the second he said:  “Nothing’s ever locked so tight but it will some day come to light.”

After each one had been remembered in this way, they all went off to their work, some looking unconcerned, others embarrassed.  The second girl blushed a deep crimson when she heard her motto.  The Hunter, who was gradually learning to understand the local dialect, listened to this lesson with astonishment, and after it was over he asked what the purpose of it was.