glass manufactory, and when people saw that Peter, as
often as he passed the musicians, threw a six-batzner piece to them,
there was no end of astonishment. Some thought he had found a treasure
in the forest, others were of opinion that he had succeeded to some
fortune, but all respected him now, and considered him a made man,
simply because he had plenty of money. Indeed that very evening he
lost twenty florins at play, and yet his pockets jingled and tingled as
if there were a hundred thalers in them.

When Peter saw how much respected he was, he could no longer contain
himself with joy and pride. He threw away handfuls of money and
distributed it profusely among the poor, knowing full well as he did
how poverty had formerly pinched him. The feats of the king of the
ball-room were completely eclipsed by those of the new dancer, and
Peter was surnamed the "emperor of the ball-room." The most daring
gamblers did not stake so much as he did on a Sunday, neither did they,
however, lose so much; but then, the more he lost, the more he won.
This was exactly what he had demanded from the glass-mannikin; for he
had wished he might always have as much money in his pocket as fat
Hezekiel, and it was to this very man he lost his money. If he lost
twenty or thirty florins at a stroke, they were immediately replaced in
his own pocket, as soon as Hezekiel pocketed them. By degrees he
carried his revelling and gambling further than the worst fellows in
the Schwarzwald, and he was oftener called "gambling Peter" than
"emperor of the ball-room," since he now gambled almost all the week
days. In consequence of his imprudence, his glass manufactory
gradually fell off. He had manufactured as much as ever could be made,
but he had failed to purchase, together with the factory, the secret of
disposing of it most profitably. At length it accumulated to such a
degree that he did not know what to do with it, and sold it for
half-price to itinerant dealers in order to pay his workmen.

Walking homewards one evening from the public house, he could not, in
spite of the quantity of wine he had drunk to make himself merry, help
thinking with terror and grief of the decline of his fortune. While
engaged in these reflections, he all at once perceived some one walking
by his side. He looked round, and behold it was the glass-mannikin.
At the sight of him he fell into a violent passion, protested solemnly,
and swore that the little man wa