“Then it was, my dear infants, that I received from on High one of those illuminations which have always been, with me, the forerunners of great things. I deliberately kept the rich young man waiting for the space of a long prayer and then said suddenly and with determination, ‘Scrap the lot!... Excuse me,’ I added, ‘I have used a phrase current in the barbaric cities of the north, which is somewhat corrupt in speech. My intention was to express to your Highness my conviction, formed upon this rapid survey in gathering darkness, that the orchard can no longer be saved, for I am sure my judgment will be confirmed when I make a more thorough examination to-morrow morning in broad day. I see also, even in this light, that the type of tree you have planted is wholly unsuited to the climate. May I be so bold as to ask where you purchased the stock?’
“‘I was assured,’ answered my new friend a little shamefacedly, ‘that it was stock grown within this very region and peculiarly adapted for our dry climate: for the drought of our position which, as you know, stands too high for waterways.’
“I shook my head. ‘You were deceived,’ said I. ‘Who sold you this unsuitable stock?’
“He told me that it was a sound friend of his who had gone off for a while upon a journey, that he was quite sure he had not intended to deceive. ‘Perhaps there was some error in the consignment shipped to you,’ I answered cheerfully as we turned towards the house. ‘This kind does admirably in the River Lowlands, and I take it your friend’s servants by some mistake sent your consignment to some lowland client and his to you in these uplands. Anyhow, the orchard is manifestly doomed, as you can see, and for my part I make no doubt that the trouble has come from the use of a wrong species. Now what you want here,’ I continued rapidly, turning over my chances well in my mind, and plumping for technical terms, ‘is a pear neither palinate nor sublongate, nor, for that matter perforate, but daxullic, or, as we sometimes call it in the trade “retarded”—at any rate in the second and third stirp.’
“‘I see; I understand; I apprehend,’ said the rich young man. For thus, have I discovered, do rich young men carry on a conversation which leaves them entirely at sea.
“‘I do not,’ I hastened to add, ‘insist, of course, upon the Persian stock, though that is the best. It might be difficult to procure and it is very expensive. What I mean is something of the same family. I should advise, as a stock more easily purchased in the local markets, the pear called by the merchants “The Glory of Heaven.”
“‘It was introduced some few years ago by my friend Nasredin and is now a favourite stock on the Plateau of Reshed where the climate is very similar to yours. It bears a large, luscious fruit, highly marketable, and maturing early; and it can be purchased at a moderate expense. I will, if you like, go for you to the nearest provider of such things and see what I can do.’
“My host thanked me profusely. He remarked how small the world was and at the same time how manifest were the workings of Providence. He blessed the day when he had met me. For though (he said), the matter of expense did not weigh upon him, he had made a particular point of success in the matter of pear trees, and but for my advice he really did not know what he should have done.
“He was so keen upon the affair that he pressed me to start for the nearest nurseryman the very next morning. There was an excellent nursery plantation, he said, not more than half a day’s ride away to the West. It stood, with the owner’s house in the midst, just outside the gates of the town to which he would direct me, either going himself or sending his bailiff with me. He would also send a wagon for the conveyance of the young shoots. Indeed, as the meal progressed (for we were now dining), he grew more and more enthusiastic on the matter and could hardly bear the delay of the night. I saw which way the land lay and saw fit to increase his keenness. I therefore told him it was quite impossible to act with such speed. ‘The young shoots,’ said I, ‘must not be left to lie untended and unplanted. We must first of all prepare the ground. The old trees must be dug up, the pits enlarged. It is the narrowness of the earthing that has been half your trouble, for the smaller root tendrils which we call “trips” are easily estopped in hard groundings.’ ‘I see!’ said he, sapiently. ‘The ground must be well soaked,’ I continued, ‘and manured with a full dressing of lime, and only when all this has been completed could I think of advising you to plant.’
“I paused to concoct something new, and the amiable youth filled the gap for me by murmuring: ‘Precisely! Exactly! Now I understand.’