Should my tongue be unloosed by greed or lightness, should I be puffed
up by vanity, then my familiar spirit--that being by whom I know
that which I know--would withdraw his inspiration from my breath. My
knowledge would depart from me, and the words I speak would be no
weightier than the idle words on every gossip's lips. Let the future
take care of itself. Consider rather the concerns of to-day. If thou
art desirous to make a fair work and a lasting, of which men will brag
till the end of time, cause to be brought hither the carol that a
giant wrought in Ireland. This giant laboured greatly in the building
of a mighty circle of stones. He shaped his carol, setting the stones
one upon another. The stones are so many, and of such a kind; they are
so huge and so weighty; that the strength of man--as men are in these
times--might not endure to lift the least of his pebbles" The king
laughed loudly. "Merlin," said he, "since these stones are of such
heaviness that it passes the strength of the strong to move them, who
shall carry them to my masons? Have we not in this realm stones mighty
enough, and to spare?" "King," answered Merlin, "knowest thou not that
wit is more than strength! Muscle is good, but craft is better.
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