ts towards me drew me to thee as
by an invisible warp, hawser, or chain-cable, from the moment I beheld
thee. Thou went a kindred spirit, my brother, though thou knewest it
not. Therefore I do not praise thee--no, nor thank thee in the least,
though thou hast preserved for me the one palm which shadows my weary
steps--the single lotus-flower (in this case black, not white) which
blooms for me above the mud-stained ocean wastes of the Hylic Borboros.
That which thou hast done, thou hast done by instinct--by divine
compulsion--thou couldst no more help it than thou canst help eating
that fish, and art no more to be praised for it.'

'Thank you,' said Philammon.

'Comprehend me. Our theory in the schools for such cases is this--has
been so at least for the last six months; similar particles, from one
original source, exist in you and me. Similar causes produce similar
effects; our attractions, antipathies, impulses, are therefore, in
similar circumstances, absolutely the same; and therefore you did the
other night exactly what I should have done in your case.'

Philammon thought the latter part of the theory open to question, but he
had by no means stopped eating when he rose, and his mouth was much too
full of fish to argue.

'And therefore,' continued the little man,'we are to consider ourselves
henceforth as one soul in two bodies. You may have the best of the
corporeal part of the division.... yet it is the soul which makes the
person. You may trust me, I shall not disdain my brotherhood. If any
one insults you henceforth, you have but to call me; and if I be within
hearing, why, by this right arm---'

And he attempted a pat on Philammon's head, which, as there was a head
and shoulder's difference between them, might on the whole have been
considered, from a theatric point of view, as a failure. Whereon the
little man seized the calabash of beer, and filling therewith a cow's
horn, his thumb on the small end, raised it high in the air.

'To the Tenth Muse, and to your interview with her!'

And removing his thumb, he sent a steady jet into his open mouth, and
having drained the horn without drawing breath, licked his lips, handed
it to Philammon, and flew ravenously upon the fish and onions.

Philammon, to whom the whole was supremely absurd, had no invocation to
make, but one which he felt too sacred for his present temper of mind:
so he attempted to imitate the little man's feat, and, of course, poured
the be