Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

122 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD.
Even Scott himself was not spared ;
and the manner
in which he took the joke was like himself. Lockhart
tells us, on the authority of Sir David Wilkie, who
was present, that Scott, when he read it, " was almost
choked with laughter ; and he afterwards confessed
that the Chaldean author had given a sufficiently
accurate account of what really passed on the
occasion."
But when the spirits were gone he [the Crafty] said unto
himself, I will arise and go unto a Magician which is of my
friends : of a surety he will devise some remedy, and free me
out of my distresses.
So he arose and came unto that great Magician which hath
his dwelling in the old fastness hard by the river Jordan, which
is by the Border.
And the Magician opened his mouth, and said, Lo ! my
heart
wisheth thy good, and let the thing prosper which is in thy
hands to do it:
But thou seest that my hands are full of working, and my
labour is great. For, lo, I have to feed all the people of my
land, and none knoweth whence his food cometh ; but each man
openeth his mouth, and my hand fills it with pleasant things.
Moreover, thine adversary also is of my familiars.
The land is before thee : draw up thine hosts for the battle
on the mount of Proclamation, and defy boldly thine enemy,
which hath his camp in the place of Princes ; quit ye as men,
and let favour be shown unto him which is most valiant.
Yet be thou silent: peradventure will I help thee some
little.
An address exactly the same is made by the
Magician to the other applicant for his favour ;
which
is as a matter of fact what did occur. But in all this
mockery there was no sting. Scott received it " almost
choked with laughter." The young rogues had