“Absurd!” snapped his mother. “Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s all there is to that story.”
“What about the sun being a pineapple with its skin taken off?” said the youngest camel rather sadly.
“Bunkum!” said his mother as she ambled along before him.
“The peacock I met in Kerbela said bad weather came when the wind blew hard and broke the pineapple off the branch and split it in five hundred pieces,” the little camel said.
“There’s not a word of truth in that story either,” his mother said. “You’re old enough now,” she added as the camel driver jerked up her nose, “to begin recognizing the truth when you see it—”
But before she could say any more, the little camel cried out:—
“Oh, I’ve found the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen! Oh, it’s so marvelous! I found it—lying—right—here—in—the—sand—”
Because his voice grew fainter and fainter, she knew he must have stopped behind her to pick up whatever it was, but when she tried walking slower to give him time to catch up with her again, the camel driver pulled fiercely at her reins. She could not so much as turn her head to see what had become of the youngest camel, but she had to go loping on with that queer human-looking smile on her lips which camels usually wear.
But they had not gone very far before she heard her child panting behind her, and in another moment he called out:—
“This time I’ve found a fortune! We’re going to be rich and happy forever and you’ll never have to work again! It’s a string of wonderful beads,” he said, dropping into step behind her. “Some of them are carved and they’re all different colors, and they’re strung together on a solid-silver chain. It must have been a prince who lost them on his way to his wedding,” his excited voice went on. “I’m sure they must be very valuable indeed.”