THE KING'S MIRROR 273 



say both about Lucifer and about Adam, which I am 

 not sure has often been heard before. Now if I should 

 on occasion recall these remarks and repeat them as I 

 have heard you state them, it may be that someone hear- 

 ing me will say that he has never heard this account 

 beforehand therefore I want to ask you to tell me what 

 facts I could state in my reply, so that I shall not seem 

 to withdraw my statements on account of ignorance 

 but rather find such means to support them, that all 

 will think them true rather than false. 



Father. The glosses to a speech are like the boughs 

 and branches of a tree. First the roots send up a stem 

 which again branches out into many limbs and boughs. 

 And whatever limb you take, if you examine it with 

 proper care, you will find it joined to the stem which 

 originally sprang up from the roots; and all the boughs 

 and branches draw nourishment from the roots from 

 which the stem grows. But if you hew off a limb and 

 cast it far away from the tree, and one should find it 

 who knows not where it grew, it will look to him like 

 every other branch which he finds on his way, seeing 

 that he does not know where it has grown. But if he 

 carries it back to the stem from which it was cut and 

 fits it there, the branch itself will testify as to what 

 roots it sprang from. It is the same with the interpre- 

 tation of a sermon; if a man knows how to present a 

 speech properly, he will also know how to interpret it 

 correctly. But as I hear that some things have been in- 

 troduced into this discussion which have not often been 

 heard, I will now do the questioning for a while, since 

 I have answered more than I have asked. And first I 



