Second lawyer.  Keep your tobacco, Jeppe!  I speak for you not in the hope of receiving gifts, but merely from Christian charity.

Jeppe.  Pardon me, Master Attorney!  I didn’t know you folks were so honorable.

First lawyer.  What my colleague advances in favor of this man’s acquittal is based entirely on conjecture.  The question is not whether such a thing could happen or not, because that it did happen is proved both by witnesses and by the man’s own confession.

Second lawyer.  What a man says from fear and awe has no weight as a confession.  It seems to me, therefore, that it is best to give the simple fellow time to collect his wits, then question him over again.

Judge.  Listen, Jeppe!  Be careful what you say.  Do you admit the charges against you?

Jeppe.  No; I will swear my most sacred oath that it’s all lies that I swore to before; I haven’t been outside my door for the last three days.

First lawyer.  Your honor, it is my humble opinion that he should not be allowed to testify on a matter already established by witnesses, particularly inasmuch as he has already confessed his misdeed.

Second lawyer.  I think he should.

First lawyer.  I think he should not.

Second lawyer.  The case is of so unusual a nature—­

First lawyer.  That does not affect witnesses and a confession.

Jeppe.  Oh, if they would only go for each other’s throats, then I could set upon the judge and give him such a beating he would forget both law and procedure.

Second lawyer.  But listen, worthy colleague!  Although the deed is confessed, the man has deserved no punishment, for he did no murder nor robbery nor harm of any kind while on the premises.

First lawyer.  That makes no difference!  Intentio furandi is the same as furtum.

Jeppe.  Talk Danish, you black hound!  Then I can answer for myself.

First lawyer.  For when a man is taken, whether he was about to steal or had already stolen, he is a thief.

Jeppe.  Gracious judge!  I am perfectly willing to be hanged if that attorney can be hanged alongside of me.

Second lawyer.  Stop talking like that, Jeppe!  You are merely injuring your own case.

Jeppe.  Then why don’t you answer him? [Aside.] He stands like a dumb beast.

Second lawyer.  But wherein is proof of furandi propositum?

First lawyer.  Quicunque; in aedes alienas noctu irrumpit tanquam fur aut nocturnus grassator existimandus est; atqui reus hic ita, ergo—­

Second lawyer.  Nego majorem, quod scilicet irruperit.

First lawyer.  Res manifesta est, tot legitimis testibus existantibus, ac confitente reo.