t thou hast presumed to fight battles and win victories without any
commission from me. Go, nevertheless, and lose an arm, a leg, and an eye in
my service, then shall thy offence be forgiven thee."

And Napoleon raised a great army, and gained a great battle for the king,
and lost an arm. And he gained another greater battle, and lost a leg. And
he gained the greatest battle of all; and the king sat on the throne of his
ancestors, and was called Louis the Victorious: but Napoleon had lost an
eye. And he came into the king's presence, bearing his eye, his arm, and
his leg.

"Thou art pardoned," said the king, "and I will even confer a singular
honour upon thee. Thou shalt defray the expense of my coronation, which
shall be the most splendid ever seen in France."

So Napoleon lost all his substance, and no man pitied him. But after
certain days the keeper of the royal wardrobe rushed into the king's
presence, crying "Treason! treason! O Majesty, whence these republican and
revolutionary pantaloons?"

"They are those I deigned to receive from the rebel Buonaparte," said the
king. "It were meet to return them. Where abides he now?"

"Saving your Majesty's presence," they said, "he lieth upon a certain
dunghill."

"If this be so," said the king, "life can be no gratification to him, and
it were humane to relieve him of it. Moreover, he is a dangerous man. Go,
therefore, and strangle him with his own pantaloons. Yet, let a monument be
raised to him, and engrave upon it, 'Here lies Napoleon Buonaparte, whom
Louis the Victorious raised from the dunghill.'"

They went accordingly; but behold! Napoleon already lay dead upon the
dunghill. And this was told unto the king.

"He hath ever been envious of my glory," said the king, "let him therefore
be buried underneath."

And it was so. And after no long space the king also died, and slept with
his fathers. But when there was again a revolution in France, the people
cast his bones out of the royal sepulchre, and laid Napoleon's there
instead. And the dunghill complained grievously that it should be disturbed
for so slight a cause.

And Napoleon withdrew his hand from the hand of Loyalty, saying, "Pish!"
And his eyes opened, and he heard the booming of the sea, and the buzzing
of the flies, and felt the heat of the sun, and saw that the sugar he had
dropped into his sangaree had not yet reached the bottom of the tumbler.

III.--Concerning Daniel Defoe

Daniel Def