110 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
for
sale with the rest of the owner's property. Every one was amazed to
find it had entirely lost its color; nevertheless De Boot's father
bought it for a trifling sum. On his return home, however, ashamed to
wear so mean-looking a gem, he gave it to his son, saying, '' Son, as
the virtues of the turquoise are said to exist only when the stone has
been given, I will try its efficacy by bestowing it upon thee." Little
appreciating the gift, the recipient had his arms engraved on it as
though it had been only a common agate and wore it as a signet. He had
scarcely worn it a month, however, before it resumed its pristine
beauty and daily seemed to increase in splendor. Could we accept this
statement as true we would have here an altogether unique instance of
the recovery by a turquoise of the blue color it had lost.
Not
long after, the powers of De Boot's turquoise were put to the test. As
he was returning to Bohemia from Padua, where he had just taken his
degree, he was forced to traverse a narrow and dangerous road at night.
Suddenly his horse stumbled and threw him heavily to the ground, but,
strange to say, neither horse nor rider was injured by the fall. Next
morning, while washing his hands, De Boot remarked that about a quarter
of his turquoise had broken away. Nevertheless the stone did not lose
its virtue. Some time afterward, when the wearer was lifting a very
heavy pole, he felt all at once a sharp pain in his side and heard his
ribs crack, so that he feared he had injured himself seriously.
However, it turned out that he had not broken any bones but had simply
strained himself; but, on looking at his turquoise, he saw that it had
again broken into two pieces.123
123 De Boot, " Gemmarum et lapidum historia," Lug\ Bat., 1636, pp. 266-268.
