Читать книгу A Manual of Mending and Repairing; With Diagrams онлайн

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The one who had betted the chariot protested that it was a trick arranged beforehand. The Prince replied, “Well, the pots are all broken. If I can mend them again by a spell, wilt thou then believe?” The other said, “Most certainly.” Then the Prince waved his wand and said, “It is done. Let us go down into the courtyard and see.” And when there, sure enough they found the pots all whole again—at least they discovered others exactly like them in their places.

The legend continued that the Prince, though he kept the carriage and horses as a trophy, liberally paid for them. The author of the Tres Centuriæ, who does not record the secret of the little arrangement, declares that he does not know whether it was all done by a fraud or by magic. If it was the latter, I regret that the incantation by which broken crockery is mended is now lost. The most powerful spell known to me is Recipe Gummæ Mastichæ duæ unciæ cum Spirito Vini fiat mixtio—that is, mastic cement. It is generally combined with sturgeon’s bladder glue.