Bosh! Absurd! I could feel, see and hear--very badly, it is true, but enough in any case to convince myself that I possessed a nose, eyes and ears. I made an effort, and cords cut into my limbs, so I had flesh--flabby and benumbed, but still flesh. My body was here, and not there. The Professor announced that he was going to unbind me. The hempen thongs were undone. I rose with one shake, and a complex impression spread terror into my soul and made it sink. Good Heavens! how heavy I was, and how short. I wished to look at myself, and there was nothing below my head, and as I bent it more, with great trouble, I saw, instead of my feet, two cloven hoofs which ended black and knotty legs covered with thick hair! A cry arose in my throat!... And it was that nocturnal bellowing which broke out in my mouth, making the house shake, and echoing far away amongst the inaccessible rocks. “Hold your tongue, Jupiter,” said Lerne, “you are annoying poor Nicolas there, who needs rest,” and he pointed out my body, which had raised itself in alarm on the bed. So I was the black bull! Lerne, that loathsome magician had changed me into a beast! He abandoned himself to brutal enjoyment. The three servile ruffians held their sides and guffawed, and my ox’s eyes learned to weep. “Well,” said the sorcerer, as if replying to the rush of my thoughts. “Well, yes, you are Jupiter, but you have a right to ask me more.” “Here is your birth certificate. You were born in Spain, in a celebrated _ganaderia_, and you come from famous parents, whose male posterity falls gloriously with a sword at their throat, on the sand of the bull-rings. I rescued you from the bandarillos of the toreadors, your pedigree suiting my purpose, and paid a high price for you--you and the cows. You cost me two thousand piastres, exclusive of carriage. “You were born five years and two months ago, so you can live as long again--no more; if we let you die of old age. “To sum up, I bought you in order to try some experiments on your organism. This is only the first one.” My facetious relative was seized with an attack of uncontrollable laughter. When he had exhausted his superfluous gayety, he went on: “Ah, ha! Nicolas! you are all right aren’t you? You are not at all uncomfortable? I am sure your curiosity, you son of woman, your infernal curiosity, must be keeping you up and I bet that you are less annoyed than interested. Come! I am a kindly chap, and since you are discreet now, my dear ward, listen to the information which you desire.