“And this one—it is such a bright green. There never was another one like it!” declared Lee Yen.
“Ah! most beautiful!”
“Oh! most wonderful!”
And so on until they had each made an iridescent little pile. Then they sat down to rest and eat their lunch—some rice cakes which their mother had placed within their sleeves.
As they sat munching these, they became reflective. The charm of the sea and sky was on them though they knew it not.
“I think,” said Lee Chu, “that these are the most beautiful pebbles that the sea has ever given to us.”
“I think so too,” assented Lee Yen.
“I think,” again said Lee Chu, “that I will give mine to the Little Fat One.”
“The Little Fat One shall also have mine,” said Lee Yen. He ran his fingers through his pebbles and sighed with rapture over their glittering. Lee Chu also sighed as his eyes dwelt on the shining heap that was his.
The Little Fat One ran to greet them on his little fat legs when they returned home at sundown, and they poured their treasures into his little tunic.