I do not like the subject the worse, Trim , said my uncle Toby , on that score: But prithee what is this story? thou hast excited my curiosity.
I’ll tell it your honour, quoth the corporal, directly—Provided, said my uncle Toby , looking earnestly towards Dunkirk and the mole again⸺provided it is not a merry one; to such, Trim , a man should ever bring one half of the entertainment along with him; and the disposition I am in at present would wrong both thee, Trim , and thy story⸺It is not a merry one by any means, replied the corporal—Nor would I have it altogether a grave one, added my uncle Toby ⸺It is neither the one nor the other, replied the corporal, but will suit your honour exactly⸺Then I’ll thank thee for it with all my heart, cried my uncle Toby ; so prithee begin it, Trim .
The corporal made his reverence; and though it is not so easy a matter as the world imagines, to pull off a lank Montero -cap with grace⸺or a whit less difficult, in my conceptions, when a man is sitting squat upon the ground, to make a bow so teeming with respect as the corporal was wont; yet by suffering the palm of his right hand, which was towards his master, to slip backwards upon the grass, a little beyond his body, in order to allow it the greater sweep⸺and by an unforced compression, at the same time, of his cap with the thumb and the two forefingers of his left, by which the diameter of the cap became reduced, so that it might be said, rather to be insensibly squeez’d—than pull’d off with a flatus⸺the corporal acquitted himself of both in a better manner than the posture of his affairs promised; and having hemmed twice, to find in what key his story would best go, and best suit his master’s humour,—he exchanged a single look of kindness with him, and set off thus.
The Story of the King of Bohemia and His Seven Castles
There was a certain king of Bo - - he⸻