Good evening, children.

It's Granny Madduff, ready with a story.

So make yourselves comfy, and I'll begin.

Once upon a time, there lived a baron who had two sons who made him very proud.

They were very studious young men who had studied everything from botany and biology to music,

poetry and mathematics.

Nothing so important to the Baron than being learned.

Almost everything his sons knew

had been taught to them by their professors

or learnt by them from a book.

They had very high opinions of themselves

and thought themselves the smartest in the land.

And so, when the king's daughter announced that she would choose for a husband,

a man who could arrange his words best, the baron's sons, being quite well-spoken,

decided to go and woo the princess.

They were given a week's stay at the palace.

When it was time to make the journey, they thought they were well prepared.

One of them knew the entire Latin dictionary by heart.

Three years it took him to learn it,

and now he could recite it backwards, forwards, or sideways,

and perfectly.

The other brother knew everything about the law.

...