chicken was just beginning to form,
ignorant of that fact, and forgetting that it was Friday. A friend
consoles him by saying that a chicken in that stage counts for no more
than worms in cheese or in cherries, and these can be eaten even in
fasting-time. But the writer is not satisfied. Worms, he had been
told by a physician, who was also a great naturalist, are reckoned as
fishes, which one can eat on fast-days. But with all this, he fears
that a young chicken may be really forbidden food, and he asks the help
of the poet Ortuinus to a righteous decision.

Another person writes to Ortuinus: "There is a new book much talked of
here, and, as you are a poet, you can do us a good service by telling
us of it. A notary told me that this book is the wellspring of poetry,
and that its author, one Homer, is the father of all poets. And he
said there is another Homer in Greek. I said, 'What is the use of the
Greek? the Latin is much better.' And I asked, 'What is contained in
the book?' And he said it treats of certain people who are called
Greeks, who carried on a war with some others called Trojans. And
these Trojans had a great city, and those Greeks besieged it and stayed
there ten years. And the Trojans came out and fought them till the
whole plain was covered with blood and quite red. And they heard the
noise in heaven, and one of them threw a stone which twelve men could
not lift, and a horse began to talk and utter prophecies. But I can't
believe that, because it seems impossible, and the book seems to me not
to be authentic. I pray you give me your opinion."

Another relates the story of his visit to Reuchlin:

"When I came into his house, Reuchlin said, 'Welcome, bachelor; seat
yourself.' And he had a pair of spectacles ('_unum Brillum_') on his
nose, and a book before him curiously written, and I saw at once that
it was neither in German nor Bohemian, nor yet in Latin. And I said to
him, 'Respected Doctor, what do they call that book?' He answered, 'It
is called the Greek Plutarch, and it treats of philosophy.' And I
said, 'Read some of it, for it must contain wonderful things.' Then I
saw a little book, newly printed, lying on the floor, and I said to
him, 'Respected Doctor, what lies there?' He answered, 'It is a
controversial book, which a friend in Cologne sent me lately. It is
written against me. The theologians in Cologne have printed it, and
they say that Johann Pfefferkorn wrote it.'