I kissed his hand.
He grasped mine firmly.

'Thanks, my comrade,' he said.

'My Emperor,' I said, 'I promise you never to learn to read and write.' And I said no more.

And that, comrades, is why I never learned." "Which hand was it ?" asked the youngster with interest.
"This one, thank God!" cried the veteran.

"The other I lost at Jena.