Part 20 (1/2)
”Aye, aye,” said the saint; ”I suppose it was, in sooth, ives me joy to follow so close so fair and lovely a lady” And as he spoke he winked one eye at Cinderella, beckoned towards her with his cup of ale, and took a deep draught to her health ”I shall tell you,” said he, as soon as he had caught his breath again, ”a story about an angel and a poor s the poor el do”
”That,” said the Blacksmith who h his ribs--”that,to tell for a sermon than a story”
”Whether or no that shall be so,” said St George, ”you shall presently hear for yourselves”
He took another deep draught of ale, and then cleared his throat
”Stop a bit, my friend,” said Ali Baba ”What is your story about?”
”It is,” said St George, ”about--”
The Fruit of Happiness
Once upon a time there was a servant who served a wise e and his onions and his pot-herbs and his broth, day after day, time in and time out, for seven years
In those years the servant ell enough contented, but no one likes to abide in the same place forever, and so one day he took it into his head that he would like to go out into the world to see what kind of a fortune a ht make there for himself ”Very well,” says the wise man, the servant's one, and now that you ask leave to go you shall go But it is little or nothing in the way of ive you, and so you will have to be content hat I can afford See, here is a little pebble, and its like is not to be found in the seven kingdoms, for whoever holds it in his mouth can hear while he does so all that the birds and the beasts say to one another Take it--it is yours, and, if you use it wisely, ityou a fortune”
The servant would rather have had thebetter was to be had, he took the little stone, and, bidding his ed out into the world, to seek his fortune Well, he jogged on and on, paying his ith the few pennies he had saved in his seven years of service, but for all of his travelling nothing of good happened to hi, he caallows, and there he sat him down to rest, and it is just in such an unlikely place as this that a man's best chance of fortune comes to him sometimes
As the servant sat there, there ca, and lit upon the cross-bea to one another, and the servant popped the pebble into his ht say
”Yonder is a traveller in the world,” said the first raven
”Yes,” said the second, ”and if he only kne to set about it, his fortune is as good as made”
”How is that so?” said the first raven
”Why, thus,” said the second ”If he only knew enough to follow yonder road over the hill, he would come by-and-by to a stone cross where two roadsIf he would ask it of hiarden where the fruit of happiness grows”
”The fruit of happiness!” said the first raven, ”and of what use would the fruit of happiness be to him?”
”What use? I tell you, friend, there is no fruit in the world like that, for one has only to hold it in one's hand and wish, and whatever one asks for one shall have”
You uess that when the servant understood the talk of the ravens he was not slow inuse of what he heard Up he scras could carry him On and on he travelled, until he came to the cross-roads and the stone cross of which the raven spoke, and there, sure enough, sat the traveller He was clad in a weather-stained coat, and he wore dusty boots, and the servant bade hi
How should the servant know that it was an angel whom he beheld, and not a common wayfarer?
”Whither away, comrade,” asked the traveller
”Out in the world,” said the servant, ”to seek uide me to where I can find the fruit of happiness?”
”You ask a great thing of me,” said the other; ”nevertheless, since you do ask it, it is not for ht for that fruit, and few indeed have found it But if I guide you to the garden where the fruit grows, there is one condition you s will happen upon our journey between here and there, but concerning all you see you ree to that?”