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Come back! cried the bishop. I must have this rare creature! Leave him with me and you shall have a full bushel of silver!
To that the merchant agreed, and leaving the bishop enchanted with his mouse, took the money to the emperor, who rewarded him suitably for his service. Then Charlemagne sent for all the bishops and priests of the province, among them the vain and greedy one, and laid the matter open before them. My bishops and pastors, said the emperor, you are supposed to minister to the poor, not to expend the revenues of your office upon vain and foolish things; yet there is one among you who has paid to a Jew more silver than would feed many worthy families, and that for no precious object, but for a common mouse painted divers colors.
Upon that, the guilty bishop fell at his feet, confessing his sin and praying for pardon, which the gentle emperor gave him, suffering him to depart without further punishment.
Honor laughed heartily. I think perhaps he had enough! she said. He must have been laughed at all the rest of his life. Do you suppose they called him the mouse-bishop? Oh no! that was Bishop Hatto, the dreadful one, you know, in the Mouse Tower on the Rhine. That story always frightens me, doesnt it you, Zitli?
But Zitli, who knew so many stories and legends, had never heard that one. So then Honor must tell the fearful tale of Hatto, archbishop of Mentz; how when the grain harvest was blighted and the starving people cried to him for food, knowing his granaries to be well-filled, he summoned them to his great barn to receive a dole, and then shut them up and burned them to death.
And then Honors eyes deepened till they were almost the black she sighed for, the wicked bishop laughed, and said it was a good bonfire; he went laughing to bed, and slept as if nothing had happened. But Zitli, next morning, when he came to where his own portrait hung, he turned pale, for the rats had eaten it out of its frame !
My faith! cried Zitli. For example! that was well done of them. And what happened then, mademoiselle?
Oh, his people came running, one by one, and told him dreadful things: first, that the rats had broken into his granaries and eaten all the corn; then that a great army of
rats was coming, coming, nearer and nearer. When Bishop Hatto heard that, he fled away, to a strong tower he had, on a little island in the Rhine. It is there still, Zitli, think of it! Madame Madeleine has seen it. Of course it is ruined, but well, the tower was very strong and he shut himself up in it, and barred all the doors and windows, and there he stayed, trembling and saying his prayers.
Saperli poppette! fine prayers those must have been! said Zitli. As if the good God had no knowledge, hein ? Proceed, Mademoiselle, I beg of you!
They swam across the Rhine; they climbed up to the tower; he heard their sharp teeth gnawing, gnawing at the woodwork; they seemed even to gnaw at the stones; and nothing could stop them! They gnawed their way through, and they swarmed up the stairs, and there was the wicked bishop, and they ate him all up ! Did you ever hear of anything so dreadful?
For example! said Zitli in a tone of great satisfaction. Bravo, Brother Rats! That was well done indeed. Good appetite to you!
But, Zitli! Honor was shuddering even while she told the ancient tale that has existed in many forms, in many lands, for hundreds of years. It is terrible ! How can you laugh?
Saperli! I can laugh well. He was rightly served, that one. To burn up people like straw, did he deserve better? No, my faith! I am all for Brother Rats, mademoiselle. And in these ancient things, added the boy with sudden gravity, we see the finger of God, is it not so? If we would trust more in Him, it would be better for us, as my sister says. He for the great things, we for the little ones. As my grandfather in Botzen Ste. Gêneviève have him in her holy keeping inscribed over the door of his shop:
Assuredly, mademoiselle! that holy saint was a shepherdess, you understand. It is true that we have chiefly cattle and goats, and only a few sheep, which besides are stupid creatures. A goat is at least amusing, if he has no conscience, as my brother says. But since there is no sainted goatherd in our knowledge, we commend ourselves to the protection of the holy Gêneviève.
I thought she became a nun before she was seven! said Honor, thoughtfully. Could she have been a shepherdess before that, do you think, Zitli?
With the blessed saints, replied Zitli gravely, many things are possible which would be difficult for ordinary persons. Is it not so, mademoiselle?
Atli came home to dinner that day; they must make a festa , Gretli declared, for he seldom appeared at the noon meal. Accordingly, the table was brought out on the green; Zitli, who was extraordinarily active on his crutches, brought green boughs from somewhere to adorn the table; from her precious, carefully tended little flower bed, Gretli produced a bright blossom to lay by each plate.