"'The servants, the attendants,' explained Mubarek, 'those who do the work of the house, who wait upon us, who cook our food and bring it to us.'
"'There are,' said the others, smiling, 'no such creatures in this world. All the inhabitants of these houses, no matter how large or fine they may be—and all our dwellings are spacious and magnificent—do whatever work may be necessary, and are ever ready to exert themselves in the interest both of themselves and of others. Besides,' the speaker continued, 'we have so many forces and contrivances, unknown perhaps in the region whence you come, that, although we have plenty of work, without which we might be dull, we have no drudgery.'
"'That is all very easy to say,' replied Mubarek, 'but who then kills the animals you eat, cooks them, and serves your table?'
"'What!' exclaimed the other, in surprise, 'do you kill and devour each other?'
"'No,' answered Mubarek; 'not each other, but other animals, such as the camel, the sheep, and the goat.'
"They heard this avowal with almost the same disgust as we should an avowal of man-eating, and explained that in their world they neither killed nor ate any living thing.
"'We have,' they said, 'fruits pleasing to the palate and nourishing to the body. These we gather, each one for himself, and should regard a man who required some one to gather his food for him very much as you would regard a man so lazy as to want some one to put it into his mouth for him.'
"Saying this, they rose, and Mubarek and the fairy with them, and taking each a plate or dish, every one of which was fashioned out of a single piece of the same beautiful and many-tinted crystal as composed the walls of their dwellings, they proceeded to gather in the garden which surrounded the palace all kinds of fruit.
"This fruit seemed to Mubarek to consist of all sorts of precious stones—the topaz, the jasper, the onyx, the carbuncle, the emerald, the ruby, and many others, and having brought their plates filled with this fruit into the house, these strange people sat down and ate them with much relish, praising highly their delicious flavour and nutritious qualities.
"They then replaced the plates, unsoiled by the repast they had contained, and prepared to show Mubarek and the fairy the beauties of their marvellous city.