Chapter 54

ENTER _Strobilus_ WITH POT.

_Strob._

Picis divitiis, qui aureos montes colunt, ego solus supero. nam istos reges ceteros memorare nolo, hominum mendicabula: ego sum ille rex Philippus. o lepidum diem, nam ut dudum hinc abii, multo illo adveni prior multoque prius me conlocavi in arborem indeque spectabam aurum ubi abstrudebat senex.

(_elated_) Woodpeckers that haunt the Hills of Gold, eh! I can buy ’em up my own single self. As for the rest of your big kings--not worth mentioning, poor beggarlets! I am the great King Philip. Oh, this is a grand day! Why, after I left here a while ago I got there long before him and was up in a tree long before he came: and from there I spotted where the old chap hid the stuff.

ubi ille abiit, ego me dorsum duco de arbore, exfodio aulam auri plenam. inde ex eo loco video recipere se senem; ille me non videt, 710 nam ego declinavi paululum me extra viam. attat, eccum ipsum. ibo ut hoc condam domum.

After he’d gone I scrabbled down, dug up the pot full of gold! Then I saw him coming back from the place; he didn’t see me, though. I slipped off a bit to one side of the road (_looking down street_) Aha! there he comes! I’ll home and tuck this out of sight. [EXIT _Strobilus_.

IV. 9.