"O bear," said the fox, "I was so hungry that I pulled out my other eye and am eating it."
"How smart the fox is to think of such things!" thought the bear, and he pulled out his own right eye and ate it.
Then the fox got a long pole, and taking hold of one end he told the bear that if he would take hold of the other end he would lead him (since he was blind) to a place where he would find plenty to eat. But he led him to the edge of a very high rock.
"O bear," he said, "there is a large, fat sheep right in front of you. Now jump!"
The bear jumped, and fell so hard upon the stones below that it killed him. Then the fox ate the body of the bear, and it made him strong enough to go on and reach Mashad, where he visited the grave of the holy man and so was made good.
CHAPTER V
KARIM AT WORK AND PLAY
The village where Karim lived lay at the mouth of a little valley. Down this valley ran a stream of sparkling water that came out of the ground about a quarter of a mile above the village. This was not a spring, but a "kareez," for beyond it could be seen a long line of pits, joined at the bottom by an underground channel, through which the water ran. The road lay by their side, and in two places the path divided, a part passing on each side of a pit.
Once while Karim lay flat on the ground looking over the smooth sides at the water trickling across the bottom of the pit, he asked, "Doesn't any one ever fall in?"