“With the greatest pleasure,” said the Princess. “But have you anything
you can roast it in? for I have neither pot nor pan.”
“Certainly I have!” said Jean. “Here’s a cooking utensil with a tin
handle.”
And he brought out the old wooden shoe, and put the crow into it.
“Well, that is a famous dish!” said the Princess. “But what shall we do for
sauce?”
“Oh, I have that in my pocket,” said Jean; “I have so much of it that I can
afford to throw some away;” and he poured some of the clay out of his
pocket.
“I like that!” said the Princess. “You can give an answer, and you have
something to say for yourself, and so you shall be my husband. But are you
aware that every word we speak is being taken down, and will be published
in the paper to-morrow? Look yonder, and you will see in every window
three clerks and a head clerk; and the old head clerk is the worst of all, for
he can’t understand anything.”
But she only said this to frighten Jean the Dullard; and the clerks gave a
great crow of delight, and each one spurted a blot out of his pen on to the
floor.
“Oh, those are the gentlemen, are they?” said Jean; “then I will give the
best I have to the head clerk.” And he turned out his pockets, and flung the
wet clay full in the head clerk’s face.
“That was very cleverly done,” observed the Princess. “I could not have
done that; but I shall learn in time.”
And accordingly Jean the Dullard was made a king, and received a crown
and a wife, and sat upon a throne. And this report we have wet from the
press of the head clerk and the corporation of printers - but they are not to
be depended upon in the least.
