When he stepped onto the lawn, among the roses, a sweet-sounding wind shook the bushes, and the scent of roses became sharper. A beautiful, veiled woman with wings on her shoulders floated down, sat down on the dainty chair placed in the middle of the rose-bushes, laid her hands on Zinnober with the gentle words, “Come, my dear child,” and combed his long hair, that flowed down his back, with a golden comb. This seemed to do the little one a great deal of good, for he blinked his little eyes and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out his little legs and groaned and grumbled almost like a tomcat. This had lasted around five minutes, when the magical woman ran a finger along the little one’s parting, and Pulcher and Adrian perceived a narrow, fiery-coloured sparkling stripe on Zinnober’s head. Now the woman said:

  “Farewell, my sweet child! – Be clever, be as clever as you can!”

  The little one said, “Adieu, little mother, I’m clever enough, you really don’t need to repeat that to me so often.”

  The woman rose slowly and disappeared in the breeze.

  Pulcher and Adrian were dumbfounded. But when Zinnober was about to stride away, the Referendarius leapt out and shouted: “Good morning, Herr Special Privy Councillor! Oh, how beautifully you have had your hair done!”

  Zinnober glanced around and attempted, when he espied the Referendarius, to run quickly away. But being as awkward and weakly on his little legs as he was, he stumbled and fell into the tall grass, which clapped its blades together over him, and he lay in a bath of dew. Pulcher came running up and helped him onto his feet, but Zinnober croaked at him: “Sir, how did you get into my garden? Go to hell!”

  And he hopped and ran, as fast as he was able, into the house.

  Pulcher wrote to Balthasar about this miraculous occurrence and promised to double his surveillance of the magical little monster. Zinnober appeared to be inconsolable over what had happened to him. He had himself put to bed and moaned and groaned so, that the news of his sudden illness soon reached Minister Mondschein, and then Fürst Barsanuph.

  Fürst Barsanuph immediately sent his personal physician to the little favourite.

  “My most excellent Special Privy Councillor,” said the personal physician on taking his pulse, “you are sacrificing yourself for the State. Intense work has thrown you onto your sickbed; incessant thought has caused the unutterable suffering you must be experiencing. Your countenance looks very pale and haggard, but your worthy head is glowing terribly! – Oh, oh! – But no inflammation of the brain? Should the welfare of the State have brought about something like this? – Hardly possible! – Allow me!”

  The personal physician had probably noticed that same red stripe on Zinnober’s head that Pulcher and Adrian had discovered. After having tried several magnetic strokes from a distance, and breathed on the patient several times, at which the latter noticeably mewled and fluted, he intended to run his hand over Zinnober’s head and touched it unexpectedly. Then Zinnober, foaming with rage, leapt into the air and gave the personal physician, who had just bent down over him, such a solid box on the ears with his bony little hand that it echoed all around the room.

  “What d’you want,” screamed Zinnober, “what d’you want from me, what’re you doing crawling around on my head! I’m not the least bit sick, I’m healthy, really healthy, I’ll get up at once and go to the Minister’s meeting: clear off!”

  The personal physician rushed away, terrified. But when he told Fürst Barsanuph how he had fared, the latter exclaimed delightedly: “What zeal for serving the State! What dignified, what sovereign behaviour! – What a man, this Zinnober!”- - -

  “My dear Special Privy Councillor,” said Minister Prätextatus von Mondschein to little Zinnober, “how marvellous it is that you, paying no attention to your illness, have come to the meeting. I have, in the important affair of the Kakatuk Court, drawn up a memorandum – drawn it up myself and I ask that you read it out to the Fürst, for your stimulating reading will elevate the whole document, for the composer of which the Prince will then recognise me.”

  The memorandum, with which Prätextatus intended to shine, had however been composed by none other than Adrian.

  The Minister made his way with the little one to the Fürst.

  Zinnober pulled the memorandum the Minister had given him out of his pocket and began to read. As, however, he just could not get going with it, and he only purred and whirred incomprehensible nonsense, the Minister took the paper out of his hands and read himself.

  The Fürst seemed utterly delighted; he let his approval be known, crying over and over again: “Great – well said – superb – brilliant!”

  As soon as the Minister had finished, the Fürst strode straight up to little Zinnober, lifted him up into the air, pressed him to his breast – at the exact spot where he (the Fürst) wore the large Star of the Green-Spotted Tiger – and stammered and sobbed, streams of tears pouring from his eyes:

  “No! – Such a man – such a talent! – Such zeal – such love – it’s too much – too much!”

  Then more composedly: “Zinnober! – I hereby elevate you to be my Minister! – Remain loyal and true to your fatherland, remain an upright servant of Barsanuph, by whom you are honoured – loved.”

  And now turning with angry eyes to the Minister: “I observe, dear Baron von Mondschein, that your powers have been diminishing for some time. Rest on your estates will be beneficial to you! – And so farewell!”

  Minister von Mondschein departed, muttering inaudible words between his teeth and throwing flashing glances at Zinnober who, after his fashion, leaning his back into his little cane, raised himself up high on his tiptoes and looked around proudly and saucily.

  “I must,” the Fürst now said, “I must honour you at once, my dear Zinnober, according to your high desert; therefore please receive from my hands the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger!”

  Now the Fürst wanted to drape the ribbon, which he had been hastily handed by his valet, around Zinnober; but his misshapen physique meant that the ribbon would not sit normally at all, but now screwed up quite improperly, now unacceptably hung down loose.

  The Prince was in this, as well as in any other such affair concerning the essential good of the State, very exact. The Order-Sign of the Green-Spotted Tiger situated on the ribbon had to sit between the hip-bone and the coccyx, three-sixteenths of an inch above the latter, at an angle. This could not be achieved. The valets, three pages, then the Fürst tried a hand; all their efforts were in vain. The treacherous ribbon slipped back and forth, and Zinnober began to squawk ill-humouredly: “Why’re you fiddling around so terribly with my body, just let the stupid thing hang how it wants to, I’m a Minister here to stay and that’s that!”

  “And why,” said the Fürst, angrily, “and why do I have Order Councils, when such mad shapes exist, as concerns ribbons, which run completely contrary to my will? – Patience, my dear Minister Zinnober! We will soon see about this!”

  At the Fürst’s command, the Order Council now had to assemble – with the addition of two philosophers and a natural scientist who, returning from the North Pole, was travelling through at that time – to discuss the question of the most practical way in which to fit the ribbon of the Green-Spotted Tiger on Minister Zinnober. In order to build up the requisite strength for this important discussion, all the members were instructed not to think during the preceding week; but to be able to execute this more effectively and yet remain in active State service, to occupy themselves in the meantime with book-keeping. The roads before the palace where the Order Councillors, philosophers and natural scientist were to hold their meeting were covered with thick straw, so that the rattling of carriages would not disturb the sages; and for this very reason it was forbidden to beat a drum, make music, indeed even to speak loudly in the vicinity of the palace. In the palace itself everyone faltered around in thick felt shoes, and one communicated by making signs.

  The meetings had lasted for seven whole days, from early morning into the late evening, and there was still no resolution in sight.

  The Fürst, near the end of his patience, kept sending messages, informing them that they must in Satan’s name eventually come up with some bright idea. But that was no help at all.

  The natural scientist had, as far as was possible, investigated Zinnober’s constitution, taken the height and breadth of the outgrowth on his back, and submitted the most exact calculations based upon this to the Order Council. He was also the one who finally suggested that one could perhaps call the Theatrical Costumerer into the discussion.

  As strange as this suggestion may appear, it was nevertheless, in the state of fear and need all found themselves in, unanimously accepted.

  The Theatrical Costumerer Herr Kees was an exceedingly deft, sharp man. As soon as the troublesome case was put before him, as soon as he had checked through the natural scientist’s calculations, he had the most superb method at hand, through which the ribbon could be brought to sit in the normal fashion.

  Which was that a certain number of buttons should be attached to breast and back and the ribbon buttoned on to these. The experiment was an immeasurable success.

  The Fürst was delighted and approved the Order Council’s suggestion that the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger should from now on be divided into various classes, according to the number of buttons with which it was given. For example: Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger with two buttons – with three buttons etc. The Minister Zinnober received, as a quite especial mark of distinction, which no one else could demand, the Order with twenty diamond buttons, for exactly twenty buttons were required for his strangely-shaped body.

  The Costumerer Kees received the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger with two golden buttons; and because the Fürst regarded him as a bad tailor, despite his happy idea, and therefore did not wish to be fitted out by him, he was named as the Prince’s Actual Privy Great Costumerer. - - -

  From the window of his country house Doctor Prosper Alpanus was looking thoughtfully down into his park. He had been busy all night casting Balthasar’s horoscope, and had in the process found out much that bore relation to little Zinnober. But the most important thing for him was what had happened with the little one in the garden, when Adrian and Pulcher had eavesdropped on him. Prosper Alpanus was just about to call out to his unicorns that they might fetch the mussel, because he wished to travel to Hoch-Jakobsheim, when a carriage came rattling up and stopped before the gate to the park. It was said that Sister von Rosenschön wished to talk to the Herr Doctor.

  “Most welcome,” said Prosper Alpanus, and the lady walked in. She wore a long black dress and was shrouded in a veil like a matron. Prosper Alpanus, seized by a strange suspicion, took his cane and dropped the sparkling rays from the knob onto the lady. Then it was as if lightning flashed and swished around her, and she stood there in white, transparent garments, shining dragonfly-wings on her shoulders, and white and red roses woven into her hair.

  “Well, well,” whispered Prosper; he tucked the cane under his dressing gown, and at once the lady stood there in her previous costume.

  Prosper Alpanus cordially invited her to sit down. Fräulein von Rosenschön now said that it had been her intention for a long time to call on the Herr Doctor in his country house, to make the acquaintance of a man whom the whole region extolled as a highly talented, charitable sage. He would certainly grant her request that he take on the medical duties of the nearby convent, as the old ladies there were often sickly and received no assistance. Prosper Alpanus politely replied that, although he had given up his practice a long time ago, he would nevertheless by way of exception visit the convent ladies when necessary, and he then asked if she herself, Fräulein von Rosenschön, was perhaps suffering from some illness or other? The Fräulein assured him that she felt a rheumatic twitching in her limbs from time to time, when she caught a cold from the early morning air, but was now quite healthy; and she began to talk about indifferent matters. Prosper asked if she, as it was still early morning, would perhaps take a cup of coffee; Rosenschön said that a Nun never spurned such things. The coffee was brought, but however hard Prosper tried to pour it out, the cups remained empty, notwithstanding that coffee streamed out of the pot.

  “Well, well,” smiled Prosper Alpanus, “this is naughty coffee! – Would you, my dear Fräulein, be so good as to pour the coffee yourself?”

  “With pleasure,” replied the Fräulein, grasping the pot. But despite the fact that not a single drop poured out of the pot, the cup became fuller and fuller, and the coffee flowed over on to the table, on to the Nun’s dress. She quickly put the pot down; the coffee immediately disappeared without a trace. Both Prosper Alpanus and the Nun now looked at each other for a while in silence, with strange expressions.

  “You were,” the lady now began, “you were certainly, Herr Doctor, occupied with a very attractive book when I entered.”

  “Indeed,” replied the Doctor, “this book contains extremely curious things.”

  And he tried to open the little book in a gilt case, which lay before him on the table. But all his efforts were in vain, for with a loud clip, clap the book always snapped itself shut. “Well, well,” said Prosper Alpanus, “perhaps you could have a go with this stubborn thing, my worthy Fräulein!”

  He handed the lady the book, which opened of its own accord as soon as she touched it. But all the pages came loose and stretched out into a giant folio and rustled around the room.

  The Fräulein started back. Now the Doctor forced the book shut, and all the pages disappeared.

  “But,” said Prosper Alpanus with a soft smile, rising from his seat, “but my dear Fräulein, why are we wasting our time on such contemptible table-tricks; for ordinary table-tricks, and nothing else, are what we have been doing up to now, let us rather proceed to higher things.”

  “I want to leave!” cried the Fräulein, rising from her seat.

  “Oh,” said Prosper Alpanus, “yet that would probably not be entirely possible without my consent; for, my dear lady, I must just tell you that you are now completely in my power.”

  “In your power,” cried the Fräulein, angrily, “in your power, Doctor? – Foolish conceit!”

  And with these words her silk dress spread itself out, and she floated up to the ceiling as the loveliest Camberwell beauty. But at once Prosper Alpanus was buzzing and rushing after her as a huge stag-beetle. Totally exhausted, the Camberwell beauty fluttered down and ran around the ground as a little mouse. But the stag-beetle sprang after it, miaowing and snorting, as a grey tomcat. The little mouse rose once again as a dazzling hummingbird, when all sorts of strange voices were raised all around the country house, and all sorts of wonderful insects buzzed in, along with strange wood-fowl, and a golden web was spun over the window. Then all at once the Fairy Rosabelverde, radiant in all her splendour and eminence, in a glistening white garment fastened by a sparkling belt of diamonds, white and red roses woven in her dark locks, stood there in the middle of the room. Before her the magus in a gold-embroidered robe, a glittering crown on his head, the cane with the fiery-beaming knob in his hand.

  As Rosabelverde strode up to the magus, a golden comb fell out of her hair and shattered, as if it were made of glass, on the marble floor.

  “Oh my! – Oh my!” cried the Fairy.

  Suddenly Sister von Rosenschön was sitting once more in a long black dress at the coffee table, and opposite her sat Doctor Prosper Alpanus.

  “I would think,” said Prosper Alpanus very calmly, pouring the most splendid steaming mocha coffee into the Chinese cups without difficulty, “I would think, my dear Fräulein, that we both now sufficiently know where we stand with each other. – I am very sorry that your beautiful comb shattered on my hard floor.”

  “Only my clumsiness,” replied the Fräulein, slurping her coffee with relish, “was to blame for that. One must take care not to drop anything on this floor, for if I am not mistaken, these stones are written over with the most wonderful hieroglyphs, which may seem to many people to be only ordinary marble veins.”

  “Worn-out talismans, dear lady,” said Prosper Alpanus, “these stones are worn-out talismans, nothing more.”

  “But dear Doctor,” cried the Fräulein, “how is it possible that we have not known each other since the earliest age, that our paths did not cross a single time?”

  “Diverse education, dear lady,” replied Prosper Alpanus, “diverse education is simply to blame! While you, the most promising maiden in Jinnistan, could give free rein to your rich nature, your happy genius, I, a miserable student, was shut up in the pyramids hearing lectures by Professor Zoroaster, an old grumbler but one who knew a hell of a lot. Under the government of the worthy Fürst Demetrius I took up residence in this pleasant little land.”

  “What,” said the Fräulein, “and were not expelled when Prince Paphnutius established Enlightenment?”

  “Not at all,” answered Prosper, “rather, I was successful in completely disguising my true self by striving, as regarded matters of Enlightenment, to demonstrate a quite exceptional knowledge in all sorts of leaflets I distributed. I proved that it could never thunder and lightning without the Fürst’s consent, and that we owe lovely weather and a good harvest solely to his and his noblesse’s efforts, who had discussed these matters very wisely in the inner chambers while outside the common folk were ploughing and sowing the fields. At that time the Fürst elevated me to ‘Privy Supreme President of Enlightenment’, a position I threw off with my disguise like a tiresome burden, once the storm was over.

  “In secret I was as useful as I could be. That is to say, what we, you and I, my dear lady, truly call useful. – Do you perhaps know, my dear Fräulein, that it was I who warned you about the Enlightenment Police breaking in? – That it is I to whom you owe the continued possession of the handy little things you showed me earlier? – Oh my God! Dear Sister, just look out these windows! – Don’t you recognise this park any more, in which you would stroll so often and speak with the friendly spirits inhabiting the bushes – flowers – springs? I have saved this park through my science. It is still there as in the time of old Demetrius. Fürst Barsanuph troubles himself, Heaven be thanked, little with magical beings; he is an affable lord and doesn’t stop anyone from performing magic as much as they please, as long as no one sees them doing it and they pay the correct taxes. So I live here like you, dear lady, in your convent, happy and free from care!”