Then the goodwife touched, with a perishing hope, and
rather as a matter of form, upon the subject of cooking. To her
surprise, and her vast delight, the king's face lighted at once! Ah,
she had hunted him down at last, she thought; and she was right proud,
too, of the devious shrewdness and tact which had accomplished it.
Her tired tongue got a chance to rest now; for the king's,
inspired by gnawing hunger and the fragrant smells that came from
the sputtering pots and pans, turned itself loose and delivered itself
up to such an eloquent dissertation upon certain toothsome dishes,
that within three minutes the woman said to herself, 'Of a truth I was
right- he hath holpen in a kitchen!' Then he broadened his bill of
fare, and discussed it with such appreciation and animation, that
the goodwife said to herself, 'Good lack! how can he know so many
dishes, and so fine ones withal? For these belong only upon the tables
of the rich and great. Ah, now I see! ragged outcast as he is, he must
have served in the palace before his reason went astray; yes, he
must have helped in the very kitchen of the king himself! I will
test him.'
Full of eagerness to prove her sagacity, she told the king to mind
the cooking a moment- hinting that he might manufacture and add a dish
or two, if he chose- then she went out of the room and gave her
children a sign to follow after. The king muttered:
'Another English king had a commission like to this, in a bygone
time- it is nothing against my dignity to undertake an office which
the great Alfred stooped to assume.
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