Pagina 429 di 788

But meanwhile the gentry had rallied to the Count. They went to

the tavern; Gerwazy called to mind the days of old, and bade them

give him three Polish girdles, by means of which he drew from the

vaults of the tavern three casks, one of mead, the second of

brandy, and the third of beer. He took out the spigots, and

immediately three streamlets spurted forth, gurgling, one white

as silver, the second red as carnelian, the third yellow: with a

triple rainbow they played on high; they fell in a hundred cups

and hummed in a hundred glasses. The gentry ran riot: some drank,

others wished a hundred years to the Count, all shouted, "Down

with the Soplica!"