fire and placed his piece of wood fairly over the mouth of the
crucible. Then as soon as the wood grew hot the wax melted--as needs
it must--and the silver fell down into the vessel. "That is right
now," said he; "let us rejoice and take a drink, for all shall now be
well."

The priest was delighted, good innocent man, suspecting nothing of
the craft that was practised against him. At length the canon said,
"Come, let us go out to get some clay, with which to make a mould for
our metal, and a bowl of water. I will go with you, for I would not
like you to think that I had played any tricks with this wonderful
art." They fetched the water and clay, the canon fashioned the mould,
poured in the metal and cast it into the water to cool.

Now what had really happened was this. When mercury is heated in a
crucible--as perhaps all you gentlemen know, though in case you do
not I must tell you to make my story plain--it changes into a vapour
like steam and disappears, but silver only melts and does not change
otherwise. So when the canon poured out the contents of the crucible
into the mould, there was the silver all liquid and ready, but the
mercury was gone. Therefore in the cold water the liquid silver
changed into a lump and was there for the priest to find, but the
mercury had disappeared. The canon knew all about this, but the
priest understood nothing and was just watching in wonder. "Now, sir
priest," said the canon, "put in your hand and see what you can
find." The priest put in his hand and drew out the lump of shining
silver. "Ah," said the canon, "let us make trial yet again. Once is
scarce a complete proof, and I should like you to understand this art
thoroughly before we part."