Very extraordinary things are related of Ziito, a sorcerer, in the
court of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia and afterwards emperor of Germany,
in the latter part of the fourteenth century. This is perhaps, all
things considered, the most wonderful specimen of magical power any
where to be found. It is gravely recorded by Dubravius, bishop of
Olmutz, in his History of Bohemia. It was publicly exhibited on
occasion of the marriage of Wenceslaus with Sophia, daughter of the
elector Palatine of Bavaria, before a vast assembled multitude.
The father-in-law of the king, well aware of the bridegroom's known
predilection for theatrical exhibitions and magical illusions, brought
with him to Prague, the capital of Wenceslaus, a whole waggon-load of
morrice-dancers and jugglers, who made their appearance among the
royal retinue. Meanwhile Ziito, the favourite magician of the king,
took his place obscurely among the ordinary spectators. He however
immediately arrested the attention of the strangers, being remarked
for his extraordinary deformity, and a mouth that stretched completely
from ear to ear. Ziito was for some time engaged in quietly observing
the tricks and sleights that were exhibited. At length, while the
chief magician of the elector Palatine was still busily employed in
shewing some of the most admired specimens of his art, the Bohemian,
indignant at what appeared to him the bungling exhibitions of his
brother-artist, came forward, and reproached him with the unskilfulness
of his performances. The two professors presently fell into warm
debate. Ziito, provoked at the insolence of his rival, made no more
ado but swallowed him whole before the multitude, attired as he was,
all but his shoes, which he objected to because they were dirty. He
then retired for a short while to a closet, and presently returned,
leading the magician along with him.
Having thus disposed of his rival, Ziito proceeded to exhibit the
wonders of his art. He shewed himself first in his proper shape, and
then in those of different persons successively, with countenances and
a stature totally dissimilar to his own; at one time splendidly
attired in robes of purple and silk, and then in the twinkling of an
eye in coarse linen and a clownish coat of frieze. He would proceed
along the field with a smooth and undulating motion without changing
the posture of a limb, for all the world as if he were carried along
in a ship. He would keep pace with the king's chariot, in a car drawn
by barn-door fowls. He also amused the king's guests as they sat at
table, by causing, when they stretched out their hands to the different
dishes, sometimes their hands to turn into the cloven feet of an ox,
and at other times into the hoofs of a horse. He would clap on them
the antlers of a deer, so that, when they put their heads out at
window to see some sight that was going by, they could by no means
draw them back again; while he in the mean time feasted on the savoury
cates that had been spread before them, at his leisure.
At one time he pretended to be in want of money, and to task his wits
to devise the means to procure it. On such an occasion he took up a
handful of grains of corn, and presently gave them the form and
appearance of thirty hogs well fatted for the market. He drove these
hogs to the residence of one Michael, a rich dealer, but who was
remarked for being penurious and thrifty in his bargains. He offered
them to Michael for whatever price he should judge reasonable. The
bargain was presently struck, Ziito at the same time warning the
purchaser, that he should on no account drive them to the river to
drink. Michael however paid no attention to this advice; and the hogs
no sooner arrived at the river, than they turned into grains of corn
as before. The dealer, greatly enraged at this trick, sought high and
low for the seller that he might be revenged on him. At length he
found him in a vintner's shop seemingly in a gloomy and absent frame
of mind, reposing himself, with his legs stretched out on a form. The
dealer called out to him, but he seemed not to hear. Finally he seized
Ziito by one foot, plucking at it with all his might. The foot came
away with the leg and thigh; and Ziito screamed out, apparently in
great agony. He seized Michael by the nape of the neck, and dragged
him before a judge. Here the two set up their separate complaints,
Michael for the fraud that had been committed on him, and Ziito for
the irreparable injury he had suffered in his person. From this
adventure came the proverb, frequent in the days of the historian,
speaking of a person who had made an improvident bargain, "He has made
just such a purchase as Michael did with his hogs."