Then the goblin said reproachfully: "O King, why was not the general
better? He offered the king a wife like that, whose charms he knew from
a long married life. And when his king died, he burned himself like
a faithful man. But the king gave her up without really knowing her
attractions."
Then the king laughed and said: "True enough, but not surprising. The
general was a gentleman born, and acted as he did from devotion to his
superior. For servants must protect their masters even at the cost
of their own lives. But kings are like mad elephants who cannot be
goaded into obedience, who break the binding-chain of virtue. They are
insolent, and their judgment trickles from them with the holy water of
consecration. Their eyes are blinded by the hurricane of power, and
they do not see the road. From the most ancient times, even the kings
who conquered the world have been maddened by love and have fallen into
misfortune. But this king, though he ruled the whole world, though he
was maddened by the girl Passion, preferred to die rather than set his
foot on the path of iniquity. He was a hero. He was the better of the
two."
Then the goblin escaped by magic from the king's shoulder and went
back. And the king pursued him, undiscouraged. No great man stops in
the middle of the hardest undertaking.
[Illustration: "Shall I go into the fire or go home?"]