"
"Nonsense!--it can't be very terrible," replied Doctor X; "what was
wrong?" "Well, Fraeulein, when I went into the camp kitchen this morning
there were two cauldrons there--one was your bath water, and the other
was the camp soup; to you, Fraeulein, I brought the camp soup."
We who had worked with the Serbians had learned to respect and admire
them for their patriotism, courage, and patient endurance. We felt that
their outstanding characteristic was their imagination, which, turned
into the proper channels and given a chance to develop, should produce
for the world not only famous painters and poets, but also great
inventors. This vivid imagination is found in the highest and lowest of
the land. To illustrate it, I told my neighbour at table a tale related
to me by my good friend Dr. Popovic. "Two weary, ragged Serbian soldiers
were sitting huddled together waiting to be ordered forward to fight.
One asked the other, 'Do you know how this war started, Milan? You
don't?--well then, I'll tell you. The Sultan of Turkey sent our King
Peter a sack of rice. King Peter looked at the sack, smiled, then took a
very small bag and went into his garden and filled it with red pepper.
He sent the bag of red pepper to the Sultan of Turkey. Now, Milan, you
can see what that meant. The Sultan of Turkey said to our Peter, 'My
army is as numerous as the grains of rice in this sack,' and by sending
a small bag of red pepper to the Sultan our Peter replied, 'My army is
not very numerous, but it is mighty hot stuff.
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