Part 5 (1/2)
But he still refused.
He had vowed to stay in bed till Fortune should visit him, and stay he would.
His wife, seeing something must be done, went out to the mules and began to cut the cords binding the sacks.
Of course you know what happened then. Out fell a perfect shower of gold pieces. The ground was soon covered with a golden carpet, richer than the most precious stores of the great East.
”A treasure! A treasure!” cried the woman, as she rushed to her husband's bedside. ”Fortune has truly come to our home. Husband, you did right in waiting for her here. Look and see how rich we are now.”
It was certainly time for the wood-cutter to get up, for he had kept his vow. As he looked at the piles of gold pieces, he said:
”I was quite right, dear wife. One must wait for Fortune. She is very fickle. You will never catch her if you run after her. But, if you wait for her, she will surely come to you.”
When the story was ended, one of the ladies pointed to the clock.
”My dear friend,” she said, turning to Osman's mother, ”I have had a most delightful day. But it is now late in the afternoon. I must bid you farewell.”
As she rose to go, the other ladies followed her example, each one thanking the hostess for the pleasant day spent with her.
CHAPTER V.
GIPSIES
”I WISH you had been with me this afternoon, Osman,” said his father, as his little boy ran to meet him.
”What did you see, papa? Please tell me all about it.”
”I went to walk with a friend. We wandered on and on until we came to a large field near the city walls. The field was alive with gipsies, who were having some sort of a holiday. They were dressed in their gayest colours and were having a dance.”
”Outdoors in that field, papa?”
”Yes, Osman, and it was a very pretty sight. A number of the men were squatting on the ground in a circle. Those were the musicians. They played on different kinds of instruments. There were drums, flutes, and mandolins.
”The players banged away with no kind of time, but the gipsies seemed to enjoy it, notwithstanding.”
”How did they dance, papa?”
”The men kept by themselves, each one moving separately. But the women danced together. They all beat time with their hands. At the same time they kept saying, 'Oh, Oh, Oh,' as they moved about.
”When the dance was ended, the gipsies went over to a corner of the field where a feast was being prepared. Great fires had been kindled.
Huge kettles of rice were boiling there, and whole sheep were being roasted.
”Many of the young gipsies were handsome. Their eyes were dark and sparkling, and their teeth were of a pearly white. But the old women were wrinkled and ugly. Their long, thin fingers made me think of witches.”
”The gipsies dress in the old style of our country, don't they, papa?”
”Yes, you always see them with large, baggy trousers, short jackets, and turbans wound around their heads. The men wear bright-coloured waistbands, stuck full of pistols and daggers.”