timony, of the Pope. The priests were much
astonished at my Latin speech, for it was at this time a rare thing,
especially with young boys; and they went speedily out of the room into
the next apartment, where was Herr Commissary Tetzel. They laid before
him my request, and begged of him to give me gratis the letter of
indulgence. At last, after holding long counsel, they came again, and
brought me this answer: 'Dear son, we have carefully laid your petition
before the Herr Commissary, and he bids us say he would gladly grant
it, but he cannot; and if he were to do so, this concession would
become powerless, and of no avail. For he has shown us that it is clear
from the Pope's letter, it is those only _qui porrigent manum
adjutricem_,--those who help with the hand, that is, those who give
money, that will certainly partake of the merciful indulgences and
treasures of the Church, and of the merits of Christ.' And this they
told me all in German, for there was not one among them who could speak
three words of Latin rightly.

"But I again renewed my petition, and showed them, how in the papal
letter the holy father had commanded that these indulgences should be
freely given to the poor, for God's sake, more especially as it was
therein written: _ad mandatum Domini papae proprium_, that is, by his
highness the Pope's own commands.

"Then they went again to the proud, haughty monk, and begged him to
grant my petition, for I was a deep-thinking and eloquent youth, who
deserved that more should be bestowed upon him than upon others. But
they brought back the same answer. I remained firm, however, and said
that they did great injustice to me, a poor boy whom neither God nor
the Pope would shut out from grace, and whom they wanted to discard for
the sake of a few pence, which I had not. Then followed a dispute. They
said I must give something, however little, if it was only a few
groschen, that the helping hand might not be wanting. I answered, 'I
have it not, I am poor.' At last it came to this, I was to give six
_pfennige_, to which I replied again, 'I have not a single _pfennig_.'
They tried to persuade me, and conferred together. At last I heard them
say that they were in anxiety on two points; first, they must on no
account let me go without the indulgence, as this might be a concerted
plan, and lead to mischief hereafter, for it was clearly written in the
Pope's letter that indulgences were to be given free to the poor; b