Had it no purpose? Had it nothing to hold?
A world full of meaning, my friend, if 'twere told.
You remember those jars in the Arabian Night,
As they stood 'neath the stars in Al' Baba's eyesight:
Little dreamed Ali Baba what ajar could excite—
For how much did betide
When a man was inside!
When from under each cover a man was to spring,
Where then was the empty, insignificant thing?
It was so with this jar,