r said, 'There was hope that evangelical
truth would bear more fruit among the children and descendants who were
not poisoned by papal errors, and might yet be grounded in pure truth
and the word of God, than among the parents in whom error was so deeply
rooted that it could hardly be eradicated.

"Then the merchants gave their opinions freely, and one of them said,
'I am a simple layman, and understand little of these disputes, but I
must speak of things as I find them; Luther must either be an angel
from heaven, or a devil out of hell. I would gladly, however, give ten
gulden to confess to him, for I believe he could and would give me good
instruction.' Then the landlord came to us, and said secretly,
'Martinus has paid for your supper:' that gave us much pleasure, not
for the sake of the money and food, but for the hospitality shown us by
this man. After supper the merchants rose and went to the stable to
look after their horses; in the mean while Martinus remained alone with
us in the room; we thanked him for the honour he had done us, as well
as for the gift, and as we did so we showed him that we took him for
Ulrich von Hutten; but he said, 'I am not Hutten.'

"Then the landlord coming in, Martinus said, 'I have become a nobleman
to-night, for these Swiss have taken me for Ulrich von Hutten.' The
landlord replied, 'You are not him, but Martinus Luther.' Then Martinus
laughing as if it were a joke, said, 'These take me for Hutten, you for
Luther, soon I shall become a Markolfus.'[26] After this talk he took a
long glass of beer, and said, according to the custom of the country,
'Drink with me a friendly glass with God's blessing;' and when I was
going to take the glass from him, he changed it, and offered instead a
glass with wine, saying, 'The beer is foreign to you, and you are
unaccustomed to it, drink the wine.' Meanwhile he rose and threw his
tabard over his shoulders, and took leave. He held out his hand to us,
and said, 'If you go to Wittenberg, greet Dr. Jerome Schurf for me.' We
replied, 'We will do that with pleasure, but how must we designate you,
that he may understand your greeting?' He answered, 'Say nothing
further than that he who is coming sends you greeting; he will
immediately understand these words.' So he departed from us and went to
rest.

"Afterwards the merchants returned into the room, and called to the
landlord to bring them something to drink; in the mean while they had
much talk about