e other senses are looked upon as of less consequence. But
that was not the opinion of this son, as he had especially cultivated
his _taste_ in every respect, and taste is very powerful. It holds
sway over what goes into the mouth, and also over what penetrates into
the mind; and consequently this brother tasted everything that was
stored up in bottles and pots, saying that this was the rough work of
his office. Every man was to him a vessel in which something was
seething, every country an enormous kitchen, a kitchen of the mind.

"That was no delicacy," he said, and he wanted to go out and try what
was delicate. "Perhaps fortune may be more favourable to me than it
was to my brothers," he said. "I shall start on my travels. But what
conveyance shall I choose? Are air balloons invented yet?" he asked
his father, who knew of all inventions that had been made, or that
were to be made. But air balloons had not yet been invented, nor steam
ships, nor railways. "Good: then I shall choose an air balloon," he
said; "my father knows how they are made and guided. Nobody has
invented them yet, and consequently the people will believe that it is
an aerial phantom. When I have used the balloon I will burn it, and
for this purpose you must give me a few pieces of the invention that
will be made next--I mean chemical matches."

And he obtained what he wanted, and flew away. The birds accompanied
him farther than they had flown with the other brothers. They were
curious to know what would be the result of the flight, and more of
them came sweeping up: they thought he was some new bird; and he soon
had a goodly following. The air became black with birds, they came on
like a cloud--like the cloud of locusts over the land of Egypt.

Now he was out in the wide world.

The balloon descended over one of the greatest cities, and the
aeronaut took up his station on the highest point, on the church
steeple. The balloon rose again, which it ought not to have done:
where it went to is not known, but that was not a matter of
consequence, for it was not yet invented. Then he sat on the church
steeple. The birds no longer hovered around him, they had got tired of
him, and he was tired of them.

All the chimneys in the town were smoking merrily. "Those are altars
erected to thy honour!" said the Wind, who wished to say something
agreeable to him. He sat boldly up there, and looked down upon the
people in the street. There was one stepping alon