"See, Wolfgang, how lustily our garden things are growing," said Luther one sunny afternoon in June of 1526 to his amanuensis, the lame Wolfgang Sieberger, who came limping after him. "Here are the onions and radishes grown from seed my friend Langen sent me, and yonder the melons and cucumbers from Wenzel Link in Nuremberg. The roses from Altenburg please me much; the buds are ready to burst. How delighted Mistress Kate will be, when I bring her the first of our roses. But, Wolfgang, how comes it that your jacket is so soiled? Have you been at work in the stable? Save your reputation, my learned famulus!" Wolfgang brushed the straw from his sleeve, and answered with an important look: "Had I not helped we would be poorer by one sucking pig, which in its youthful frivolity wandered away and fell into a ditch." Luther laughed heartily: "Dr. Martin has indeed become a farmer, Mistress Kate a farmer's wife, and Master Wolfgang a farm-servant. I never dreamed that such honor and dignity would befall me. When I return from my pulpit or lecture-hall, and enter the court, where in former times a solemn silence reigned, I am greeted on all sides by such a cackling and grunting and bleating, that my heart fails me, when I think of all the pious monks and abbots, who are sleeping their last sleep here below. What would they say to such deafening noises in this sacred spot? If I would walk in the garden, and enjoy the fragrance of the flowers, suddenly a swarm of bees flies buzzing about my head, and I have learned, to my sorrow, how sharp a sword they carry. The convent is alive with human beings--almost too many, methinks. In the end it will be needful that I buy a horse of Abraham the Jew, and myself follow the plough." Wolfgang listened with a smile and shook his head: "Reverend Doctor, you jest about the busy life in your house, and yet you owe thanks to those who have brought it about; for without it, you would fare ill, and so forth." "What do you mean, Wolf?" asked Luther. "What do I mean?" said Wolfgang, limping a few steps nearer. "My meaning can be made clear to you without figures, and so forth. What is the amount of the salary paid you by the Elector since your marriage? Two hundred florins. How much have we spent during the past year? Nearly five hundred florins, including the three silver drinking cups." "Wolf," exclaimed Luther, "that is a strange reckoning."