'Fool!' cried Tuiskoshirer; 'ruling is as light and easy as it is pleasant.' 'Yet heavy and severe is the reckoning above for bad government,' replied Alf. 'No, seek thee another king.' Tuiskoshirer then flung open his tattered mantle, and drew from under its folds a magnificent regal crown, ingeniously formed of fine gold, and splendidly radiant with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, and, as he turned and waved it here and there in the sunlight, the golden and colored sparkles played so gaily about the room, that Alf was compelled to turn away his blinded eyes. 'In this crown is placed all my earthly wealth,' said Tuiskoshirer, pathetically. 'Ingeniously have I made it, during the stillness of the night, as an offering for the Spirit, that he therewith might crown the new king of Zion. Thee have I selected therefor, from among a thousand. Do you but consent, and I will set this emblem of royalty upon your head, and with God's help I will maintain it there.' The youth looked at the beautiful crown for a moment, and its golden lustre seemed to awaken his ambition; but his better self soon conquered. 'Leave me, tempter!' cried he with vehemence, and forcibly replacing the bauble under the prophet's mantle, he dexterously pushed him out through the door. 'You will repent of this,' howled the little man as he disappeared. CHAPTER VII. 'The duodecemvir, Dilbek, would speak with you,' announced an apprentice to the industrious Alf an hour afterwards. Surprised at the visit of a person whose name and office were alike unknown to him, he repaired to the parlor, where, in respectable black judicial robes, his comical fool's face peeping above a colossal white ruff, and his diminutive form attached to a long thrusting sword, strutted before him the aerial tailor. 'Knowing that you would feel an interest in my happiness, my good fellow,' (snarled and lisped the new duodecemvir, in an incredibly gentlemanlike manner,) 'I could not forbear informing you in person of the good fortune which has come to me through the mercy of the Spirit.' 'What means this masquerade?' cried Alf, peevishly. 'Take off that fool's jacket again; it does not become you, upon my word.' 'Have respect, my friend,' said Dilbek, earnestly. 'Every official dress confers honor upon its wearer, and this it has become my duty to wear, as one of the twelve judges over Israel.' 'You? you become a judge?' laughed Alf. 'Go and seek some other fool to believe you.' 'You are and always will be an unbelieving Thomas,' cried Dilbek angrily; 'and doubt every thing that you cannot feel with your hands. I repeat to you that I have even now come from the market, where the people have established the new tribunal.' 'And the mayor and aldermen, who governed until now?' asked Alf.