The Strange Tale of the Snake Ring Read Online Free Page B

and now it was spring again – two years after Thomas left the farm. By this time he was well liked by both the king and the chancellor. Each mealtime he stood behind the king’s chair and attended to his needs, and sometimes the king even asked him to taste a little of the royal food, to see whether it was properly cooked.
    Sometimes the queen sent for him to attend her in the royal chambers, where he was asked to tell a bedtime story to the two little princesses. By now he was quite well paid, and was able to put away money each week towards the time when he would have saved enough to buy a house and marry Gerda.
    Now each year, at the time called Lent, which comes just before Easter, it was the custom for the king to give a banquet for the learned professors from the nearby university. There were seventeen of them, all very old and wise. The king found it very difficult to talk with them through the meal, because it was not considered polite for anyone but the king to begin a conversation. The professors were not interested in the weather, or his family, or how good the hunting was this year, or any of the other things that the king normally talked about.
    He usually solved the problem by asking them a question that he thought they could not answer, and by the time each one of them had tried to answer it, the meal would be over. This year he had decided to ask: “What holds up the world?” and thought their answers would take at least an hour.
    The day before the banquet was to take place, the king sent for the head cook. “Tomorrow is the professors’ feast,” he announced, “and as usual in Lent, we eat no meat; so the main course will be fish.”
    â€œCertainly, Your Majesty,” replied the cook.
    â€œNow listen carefully,” continued the king. “The last time you served fish at one of my banquets, you cut it into pieces and smothered it with sauce so that I couldn’t tell whether it was salmon or stockfish. So this year, I want one fish, big enough for nineteen people. Cook it whole and serve it on your biggest dish. And if you make sauce, serve it separately.”
    â€œVery well, Your Majesty,” said the cook; and he bowed and returned to the kitchen.
    The next day at the appointed time all the professors arrived for dinner. The king and queen sat in their usual places at the head of the table, and the professors in order of age round the rest of the table, the oldest next to the king. Thomas stood in his usual place behind the king’s chair, ready to carry out any task that the king ordered. Other servants were hurrying round, serving everyone with bowls of steaming onion soup.
    No one spoke, as they were all waiting for the king to ask his question. After he had taken a spoonful of soup, as a signal that the others could begin, he asked in a loud voice: “What holds up the world?”
    â€œAtlas, the son of Lapetus, holds up the world, Your Majesty,” said the oldest professor.
    â€œThen who holds up Atlas?” asked the king.
    â€œHe stands on the back of a giant turtle,” said the second oldest professor.
    â€œAnd what holds up the turtle?” enquired the king.
    â€œIt rests on the back of an enormous elephant,” answered the third professor.
    â€œAnd the elephant,” continued the fourth, “stands with its legs firmly in the waters that are beneath the earth, which were divided on the second day of creation.”
    No one else spoke. After a few minutes’ silence, the king asked, “Do you all agree on that?”
    â€œYes. Yes, we do, certainly, quite true, quite true,” said all the professors together.
    Silence again.
    This is going to be quite embarrassing
, thought the King.
What can I ask them now?
    Fortunately there was an interval filled with the clatter of bowls and spoons as the servants collected the soup plates. The head cook appeared in shining white hat and apron, carrying an