"
"And so high was he in the king's favor and graces!" snivelled the
eunuch. "They shall never find another such as he."
"True, true; and yet hast heard another must be found? The king has
thus ordered: another mute must now be gotten to take his
place--another just so strange." The jester bent over the face and
shuddered. A few swift clouds sped across the moon, and caused the
greenish shadows under the misshapen features to flicker and melt
grotesquely. Then the light shone clear again and he saw the broken,
twisted nose; and the eyes that stared obstinately from their split
lids; and the gaping, grinning mouth that, years ago, the torturers
had cut wide upon each seared and tattooed cheek; and the swollen,
split lips that could not hide where once had been a tongue. He passed
his hand along the shroud and lightly touched the ugly hump where the
spine had been pressed and snapped, and the slanted shoulders and the
twisted hips and legs. "Thou wast so laughable to all the court," he
cried. "Thy bones were so comically broken. And now, another must be
made for the court's delight, just so comical as thou.
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