te use were
kept in closets made of marble and costly woods, and to the right and
left were ten rooms in which were preserved every thing costly and rare
for the palate that could be found in the entire country of the Franks
and even in the Levant. Kitchen servants, of all degrees, were running
about, rattling kettles and pans, and with forks and ladles in their
hands; but when the master of the kitchen entered, they all stopped and
remained so still that one heard only the crackling of the fires and
the splashing of the stream.

"What has His Grace ordered for breakfast this morning?" inquired the
master of the kitchen of the breakfast-cook.

"Sir, he has been pleased to order Danish soup and red Hamburg
dumplings."

"Very well," said the master of the kitchen. "Did you hear, little man,
what His Grace will have to eat? Do you feel capable of preparing these
difficult dishes? In any event, you will not be able to make the
dumplings, for that is a secret."

"Nothing easier," replied the dwarf, to the astonishment of his
hearers; for when a squirrel he had often made these dishes. "Nothing
easier; for the soup, I shall require this and that vegetable, this and
that spice, the fat of a wild boar, turnip, and eggs; but for the
dumpling," continued he, in a voice so low that only the master of the
kitchen and the breakfast-cook could hear, "for the dumpling, I shall
use four different kinds of meat, a little wine, the oil of a duck,
ginger, and a certain vegetable called 'stomach's joy.'"

"Ha! By St. Benedict! What magician learned you this?" cried the cook,
in astonishment. "He has given the receipt to a hair, and the
'stomach's joy' we did not know of ourselves. Yes, that would improve
the flavor, no doubt. O you miracle of a cook!"

"I would not have believed it," said the master of the kitchen; "but
let him make the experiment; give him what things he wants, and let him
prepare the breakfast."

These commands were carried out, and every thing was laid out near the
hearth, when it was discovered that the dwarf's nose barely came up to
the fire-place. Therefore a couple of chairs were placed together, and
upon them a marble slab was laid, and the little magician was then
invited to try his skill. The cooks, scullions, servants, and various
other people, formed a large circle around him, and looked on in
astonishment to see how dexterous were his manipulations and how neatly
his preparations were conducted. When