Say, now, Nurse, how came
it here?"
"How came _we_ here?" answered Asti shortly. "Answer my question and I
will answer yours."
Then, laying down the harp, Tua looked again into her basket and
found that beneath a layer of dried papyrus leaves were hidden pearls,
thousands of pearls of all sizes, and of such lustre and beauty as she
had never seen. They were strung upon threads of silk, all those of a
like size being set upon a single thread, except the very biggest, which
were as great as a finger nail, or even larger, that lay wrapped up
separately in cloth at the bottom of the basket.
"Surely," said Tua, amazed, "no Queen in all the earth ever had a dower
of such priceless pearls. Moreover, what good they and the harp can be
to us in this forest I may not guess."
"Doubtless we shall discover in due course," answered Asti; "meanwhile,
let us thank the gods for their gifts and eat."
So they ate, and then, having nothing else to do, lay down by the fire
and would have slept.
But scarcely had they closed their eyes when the forest seemed to awake.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324