“I, too, have a small gift for Your Majesty.”
And so saying he produced a plate from his wallet, and laid upon it the various viands which had been cooked for the Emperor’s dinner the previous day.
When the Emperor understood that this was the dinner which had been prepared for him, and which he ought to have eaten, he was greatly astonished; but seeing that it was no fault of his Cooks, Chamberlains, or other servants, he ordered them all to be released, and to resume their former functions.
Having issued these various commands, the Emperor again summoned the three Thieves before him, and addressed them as follows:
“Although,” said he, “I am very pleased at finding such a satisfactory explanation for the disappearance of the eggs, the misdemeanour of my Prime Minister, and the insufficiency of my dinner, I cannot overlook the fact that you three men have behaved in a very unusual manner. So before rewarding you in accordance with my promise, I desire to put your skill to a further test. If you succeed in this trial to my satisfaction you shall all three be well rewarded, and receive rank and lands in my country; but if you fail, you must take [[88]]the consequences of your rashness, and you shall all three be put to death.”
When the three Thieves heard these words they were greatly frightened, and bowing down before the Emperor they awaited his commands.
“The test which I have in store for you,” continued the Emperor, “is as follows: you must know that in my Treasury I have a great number of jewels and precious objects of all kinds; and the Treasury is enclosed within a treble wall ten fathoms in height, closed by iron gates, and is guarded night and day by companies of my most faithful soldiers. If you can produce, before six o’clock to-morrow evening, three of the pearls from my Treasury, you shall be pardoned and rewarded; but if you fail to do so, you shall all three be put to death.”
On hearing these words the three thieves consulted together for a few moments, and replied as follows:
“We will do our best to carry out Your Majesty’s commands and to succeed in this test which you have given us, but we would call your royal attention to one matter; it is this: supposing we produce before to-morrow evening three pearls as you command, how shall we be able to satisfy you that they come from the Royal Treasury? All pearls look very much alike, and it would be impossible for us to prove to you whence they came. We would, therefore, venture to suggest that, before putting us to this test, you should have a complete enumeration made of all the jewels in your Treasury; then, when we produce the three pearls in question, it [[89]]will be easy to ascertain whether there are in the Treasury three pearls less than there were when the enumeration was made.”
The Emperor, seeing that this was a reasonable request, agreed to act as the Thieves had suggested. So summoning his Treasurer before him, he gave orders that a complete enumeration of all the jewels and other precious objects in his Treasury should be made before nightfall that evening; and having issued his commands he dismissed the audience.