“Little Mouk expressed himself as quite ready for his travels; but begged that he might be allowed to take his father’s clothes with him, and to this they consented.
“Now his father had been a fine tall man, so the clothes did not fit little Mouk, but this did not worry him. He cut them down in length and put them on, quite forgetting that they required taking in in the width as well. This is the reason of his extraordinary appearance, for the large turban, the broad girdle, the wide trousers and the blue mantle are all heirlooms of his father, which he has always worn.
“The dagger, too, was his father’s; this he stuck in the girdle when he set out upon his way, with his staff in hand.
“Happy and well content he wandered along. If he spied a piece of broken glass glittering in the sunshine, he put it in his pocket believing it was a diamond.
“If he saw the distant cupolas of a mosque shining like fire, or the sea stretched before him as smooth as a mirror, he hurried along thinking for sure he was coming to an enchanted country. But alas! the magic pictures changed as he approached them, and all too soon his weariness and empty stomach reminded him that he was still in the land of mortals.
“Thus he wandered on for two whole days and nights, hungry, weary, and dejected, in search of a fortune he began to fear he would never find. The wild fruits were his only food and the hard earth was his bed. On the third morning, from the top of a high hill, he saw a large town.
“He could see the glittering crescent and bright coloured flags upon the roofs and it seemed to little Mouk that they beckoned him nearer. He stood a few moments watching the town and its surroundings in surprise. ‘There will little Mouk make his fortune if anywhere,’ he said, and in spite of his fatigue he jumped for joy, then summoning all his strength he began to walk towards the city. But although it appeared so close he did not reach it until mid-day, for his poor little legs almost refused their office, so that he was obliged to rest frequently in the shade of a palm tree. But at length he reached the city gate. He shook out his mantle, re-arranged his turban, spread out his girdle and set his dagger jauntily in it, then, wiping the dust from his shoes, he strode bravely into the city.
“He had wandered through several streets, but nowhere had a door been opened to him, nowhere had the folks called out to him as he had imagined they would: ‘Come in, little Mouk, come in, eat drink, and rest your weary little legs.’
“But as he glanced longingly at a fine large house opposite him, a window opened and an old woman popped her head out and began calling out in sing-song tones:
“‘Come everyone,