Itisquitenaturallyandwithoutanyintentiontodeceive，thatayoungmanaccustomedtopoverty，andashamedofitwhenhespeakstoarichstranger，boastsofhismeans——ofhisfortune。AsIwastalkingwithmynewacquaintance，Irecollectedanamalgamofmercurywithleadandbismuth，bywhichthemercuryincreasesone—fourthinweight。Isaidnothing，butIbethoughtmyselfthatifthemysteryshouldbeunknowntotheGreekImightprofitbyit。Ifeltthatsomecunningwasnecessary，andthathewouldnotcareformysecretifIproposedtosellittohimwithoutpreparingtheway。Thebestplanwastoastonishmymanwiththemiracleoftheaugmentationofthemercury，treatitasajest，andseewhathisintentionswouldbe。Cheatingisacrime，buthonestcunningmaybeconsideredasaspeciesofprudence。True，itisaqualitywhichisnearakintoroguery；butthatcannotbehelped，andthemanwho，intimeofneed，doesnotknowhowtoexercisehiscunningnoblyisafool。TheGreekscallthissortofwisdomCerdaleophyonfromthewordcerdo；
fox，anditmightbetranslatedbyfoxdomifthereweresuchawordinEnglish。
Afterwehadvisitedthepalacewereturnedtotheinn，andtheGreektookmetohisroom，inwhichheorderedthetabletobelaidfortwo。InthenextroomIsawseverallargevesselsofmuscatelwineandfourflagonsofmercury，eachcontainingabouttenpounds。
Myplanswerelaid，andIaskedhimtoletmehaveoneoftheflagonsofmercuryatthecurrentprice，andtookittomyroom。TheGreekwentouttoattendtohisbusiness，remindingmethatheexpectedmetodinner。Iwentoutlikewise，andboughttwopoundsandahalfofleadandanequalquantityofbismuth；thedruggisthadnomore。I
camebacktotheinn，askedforsomelargeemptybottles，andmadetheamalgam。