diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/64988-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/64988-0.txt | 2466 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 2466 deletions
diff --git a/old/64988-0.txt b/old/64988-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3903f1f..0000000 --- a/old/64988-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2466 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Youngest Camel, by Kay Boyle - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Youngest Camel - -Author: Kay Boyle - -Illustrator: Fritz Kredel - -Release Date: April 04, 2021 [eBook #64988] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital - Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNGEST CAMEL *** - - - - -_The Youngest Camel_ - - -[Illustration: “_Now we have brought you to the pathway between the -winds._”] - - - - - THE YOUNGEST CAMEL - - By Kay Boyle - - [Illustration] - - With illustrations by - FRITZ KREDEL - - BOSTON - LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY - 1939 - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1939, BY KAY BOYLE - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT - TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PORTIONS - THEREOF IN ANY FORM - - FIRST EDITION - - _Published August 1939_ - - THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS BOOKS - ARE PUBLISHED BY - LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY - IN ASSOCIATION WITH - THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - _For Pegeen, Bobby, Apple-Joan, - Kathe, and Clover Vail_ - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - “_Now we have brought you to the pathway between the - winds._” Frontispiece - - _The little camel said nothing at all, but simply - followed in her footsteps_ 22 - - _He lay there very meekly on one side_ 28 - - _And then they flew off, their legs floating on the air behind - them_ 44 - - “_It’s much wiser to be polite to everyone I meet, because one - never knows._” 54 - - _The little camel took another uncertain step towards the tent_ 68 - - - - -_The Youngest Camel_ - - - - -[Illustration] - -_I_ - - -The beginning of the caravan’s trip was made through lovely country, -through regions in which flowers such as tea roses and white and purple -iris bloomed. When the caravan came through villages, boys ran out -barefoot and half-naked to sell fruit to the travelers: baskets of -peaches, pears, and melons. All the forty camels wore bells, each one -several little silver-tongued bells attached to the harness he wore -around his neck. The youngest camel was the only one who did not carry -a bell, nor a load on his back. This was the first trip he had ever -made across the desert and he followed close behind his mother. As long -as she was there before him, he felt quite pleased with himself and not -at all fearful of all the sights he saw. - -After several days the caravan, like every other caravan that took this -route, entered the badlands. Here the older camels fell into sudden -rages and spat if anyone approached them. If the camel drivers jerked -their nose cords, they flung their legs about and tottered as if they -were about to faint. Now and then, towards sundown, when the hour to -halt seemed near, they screamed aloud like humans. But the camels grew -quieter as soon as the desert began and they felt their feet deep in -the hot slipping sand. - -The early mornings were now a clear icy blue, but as the day advanced -the heat blazed up as if a fire were sweeping across the heavens -towards them. The youngest camel didn’t mind how hot it was and he -had such a good opinion of his own strength that he thought he could -never possibly get tired. He came skipping and jumping along behind -his mother, playing games with himself and laughing out loud when the -dry sand ran swift as water between his toes. But when his mother -complained of the terrible heat and the long way they had to go, he -lifted his soft dark eyes and looked at her long legs before him, and -her tail, and he thought: I love her. I love her elbows with the hair -worn off them, like the old carpet the snake charmer sits on in the -market place; I love the way her hump slumps when she has no more water -in it, and I love the way her tail is eaten by the moths because she -forgot to put it in camphor once about fifty years ago. - -He was a very poetic young camel and rather musical besides. He had a -beautiful singing voice, and in the evenings when they halted at an -oasis he liked to play the harp and sing to her. Most of his songs were -about himself and his own beauty and grace, but sometimes at night his -songs were so tender in his love for her that she had to rise from her -knees and break off great leaves from the banana trees and dry the -tears from her aging face. - -On the fifteenth night they halted at an oasis where the poplars and -mimosas grew in great profusion, and where hares and antelope moved -shyly in the cool green gorges. The stars were sprinkled out as fine as -salt across the bluish night sky. The youngest camel lay close beside -his mother in the moist grasses, and she said to him:-- - -“Flower of my heart, this trip you have followed close beside me, for -you are my baby still, but soon you must prepare yourself for what will -surely come. Perhaps when we reach the end of our journey you will be -taken from me, and from then on you will travel with strange camels, -carrying a load of your own.” - -“A baby?” said the youngest camel in surprise, feeling a little -annoyed. “Me, a baby?” - -“Yes,” said his mother sadly, “and so, my earliest leaf, you will have -to undergo the ordeal of loneliness.” - -“What in the world is that?” asked the young camel, and he reached out -for his harp and lightly touched its strings. - -“The ordeal of loneliness is the thing we camels fear the most,” said -his mother, and he sat listening to her rather impatiently, swinging -his little golden chin back and forth as he chewed on a bit of grass. -“Men have found out,” she went on, lowering her voice, “that what we -fear above everything else is being left alone. So they take us one by -one when we are very young like you, and they tie us fast and leave -us in solitude three days and three nights in the desert. If we live -through that and keep our reason, then we’re cured. After that we no -longer fear the terrible sight of nothingness around us. But sometimes -we do not live through it. You must be prepared for that.” - -“What, me?” said the youngest camel with a laugh. “Do you think I’ll -mind? Why, not at all. I’m a little bit afraid of fire, and I don’t -quite like things that lie still and refuse to move any more. But -generally I’m much more brave than other young camels, and I couldn’t -possibly be afraid of being alone!” - -He was so close to his mother’s side that this seemed like a fairy -story she told him. And all around them the oasis was filled with -sleeping life. Near the trees, the mules stood tethered, their tails -swinging back and forth in the warm night air. Against the starry sky, -the necks and heads of the forty kneeling camels stood out, peaceful as -statues. Danger seemed a thing too far away to think of, even. - -“Yes,” his mother went on as she smoothed his hair back from his brow. -“At first you will be very much afraid, but you must try to remember -there is nothing really to fear. Remember, it is only the beating of -our own hearts that makes us tremble.” - -The young camel laughed a little in contempt at the idea of being -afraid of anything at all, and then he began to draw music from his -harp. No one moved, nothing stirred except the mules’ tails slowly -waving in the tall grass, but his mother began to cry silently while he -sang. - - -_The Youngest Camel’s Song_ - - When I am fourteen I shall wear tassels on my cheeks, - And I shall dance for the Shah and the Lamas and the Raj - With a tambourine tied to my tail. - When they sprinkle coins before me and wash my hoofs in milk, - I shall return to you rich from their palaces, - Running fast as a king deer to you with jewels in his antlers. - - I shall know you at once, no matter how many years have passed over, - Because you have no upper teeth any more - And because you have sores on your shoulders. - I shall bring you patches to wear on your old knees, Mother, - And ivory and basalt stronger than teeth - To fill up your naked mouth. - - - - -[Illustration] - -_II_ - - -The next morning the youngest camel awoke in high spirits and ran -quickly to brush his teeth in the oasis pool. He felt so reckless that -he swallowed all his toothbrush water on purpose, a thing his mother -had told him particularly he should never do. Then he gargled so loud -that nobody could hear the waterfall any more; so loud, in fact, that -the mules craned their heads around and looked critically over their -shoulders at him. Next he caught sight of a group of melancholy waders, -some of them looking in the water for frogs and some of them standing -mournfully on one leg in the shallows. So he crept along behind the -bushes and then jumped out at them with such a shout that he scared -them into fits before they collected themselves enough to spread their -wings and fly away. - -His mother was not at all pleased at the way he was going on. The sun -was rising beyond the tamarisk trees and a day’s travel lay before -them, so naturally she was not feeling in quite such a sentimental mood -as on the night before. She kept darting black looks at him all the -time she was being saddled and packed, but she couldn’t get near enough -to him to say a word. He was dancing foolishly around with his harp and -making a spectacle of himself before the mules, who, although they did -not usually see anything funny in anything, had begun to show their -teeth in quick unhappy smiles. - -And now the caravan started off again across the sand, accompanied by -the music of the camels’ silver bells. The young camel ran lightly -along beside his mother, humming under his breath something about -“love” and “the afternoon I met you” and “a love nest for two,” which -were words from a song everybody was singing that year. - -“The trouble with you is that you just can’t see things as they really -are,” his mother said severely to him. - -She reached out and tried to nip his ear, but he skipped quickly behind -her and there he began to play with her tail, leaping and skidding, the -way a kitten will bound after his mother’s tail if he is feeling full -of milk and bold as brass. - -“Whoops!” he cried, making another flying leap after her tail as she -tossed it in irritation into the air. “And, anyhow, how _are_ things -_really_?” - -“Don’t be absurd,” snapped his mother as she ambled along behind the -next camel’s hind legs and tail. “Things _are_ exactly as they _are_.” - -The sun was rising higher above them, and every instant it grew hotter -until the heat seemed to have bleached all the color out of the sky. - -“For instance, this sand is getting unbearably hot,” his mother went -on, “and there is no stopping place until we reach the oasis, which -will be about sundown. Also, there is a sore on my right hip which is -being rubbed at every step by my haunch strap. And, last but not least, -you are behaving like a perfect ninny. Such things _are_. Whether you -like it or not, you have to admit they’re _there_.” - -“Where is _there_?” asked the youngest camel smartly, and his mother -answered:-- - -“_There_, of course, means _here_.” - -“I don’t see how _there_ can be _here_ when _there_’s over there -somewhere,” said her son, and she answered shortly:-- - -“Don’t waste your time talking so ridiculously. One of the things that -doesn’t exist is the green vale I had always hoped to settle in. At my -time of life I ought to have a place like that where I could stretch -out and eat all the fresh vegetation I wanted and drink as much cool -water as I wanted--” The camel driver gave her mouth such a jerk that -she had to stop speaking for a moment, and then she added bitterly: -“That’s just one of the things that can never possibly be.” - -“Why can’t it?” asked the youngest camel. - -“Because it can’t,” snapped his mother. “Because your father didn’t -take out any life insurance. Because things _are_ or else they _are -not_.” - -“What about the caravan of white camels with solid gold hoofs that goes -right around the earth like a belt?” asked the little camel, shifting -his harp on his shoulder. - -“Hooey,” said his mother. “A lot of hooey.” - -“But a llama told me that back in Hindustan,” her son insisted. “They -go right around the world through everything--cities, oceans, railway -carriages, skyscrapers. They keep on going all the time and nothing can -stop them and nobody except camels can see them. And whenever a camel -is lost anywhere in the world he only has to join the caravan of white -camels and in the end he’s bound to pass through his own country and -find his family again--” - -“Don’t be an ass,” said his mother. Her feet were beginning to hurt her -very much. “You can be sure that’s one of the things that decidedly _is -not_.” - -“The llama said he knew a camel who--” he began, but his mother -interrupted:-- - -“Llamas are notoriously untruthful.” - -They went on in silence for a while, but presently the little camel -began asking questions again. - -“What about the two sides of the weather that Mohammed has for a fan?” -he said to his mother. “The light blue side is turned towards him when -he feels like dancing and singing, and then the dark side is turned out -to us. And when he is in thought he fans himself with the dark side so -the light won’t disturb him. That’s how we have good and bad weather.” - -“Absurd!” snapped his mother. “Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes -it doesn’t. That’s all there is to that story.” - -“What about the sun being a pineapple with its skin taken off?” said -the youngest camel rather sadly. - -“Bunkum!” said his mother as she ambled along before him. - -“The peacock I met in Kerbela said bad weather came when the wind -blew hard and broke the pineapple off the branch and split it in five -hundred pieces,” the little camel said. - -“There’s not a word of truth in that story either,” his mother said. -“You’re old enough now,” she added as the camel driver jerked up her -nose, “to begin recognizing the truth when you see it--” - -But before she could say any more, the little camel cried out:-- - -“Oh, I’ve found the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen! Oh, it’s so -marvelous! I found it--lying--right--here--in--the--sand--” - -Because his voice grew fainter and fainter, she knew he must have -stopped behind her to pick up whatever it was, but when she tried -walking slower to give him time to catch up with her again, the camel -driver pulled fiercely at her reins. She could not so much as turn her -head to see what had become of the youngest camel, but she had to go -loping on with that queer human-looking smile on her lips which camels -usually wear. - -But they had not gone very far before she heard her child panting -behind her, and in another moment he called out:-- - -“This time I’ve found a fortune! We’re going to be rich and happy -forever and you’ll never have to work again! It’s a string of wonderful -beads,” he said, dropping into step behind her. “Some of them are -carved and they’re all different colors, and they’re strung together on -a solid-silver chain. It must have been a prince who lost them on his -way to his wedding,” his excited voice went on. “I’m sure they must be -very valuable indeed.” - -The sun was growing hotter and hotter in the heavens, and now his -mother, who was much older than anyone would have believed, was feeling -more than a little impatient. She couldn’t crane her neck around and -see what the youngest camel was up to, and her feet hurt her, and her -hip was rubbed quite raw. - -“In the first place, they don’t belong to you,” she said to him in -annoyance. “You’ll have to turn them over to the police as soon as we -reach civilization.” - -“Oh, but look!” cried the little camel, just as if it were possible for -her to turn her head and see. “There’s a bit of paper tied to them. -It says--let me see a minute,” he said, as if trying hard to make the -letters out--“it says, ‘Whoever finds these magic beads may keep them.’ -So you see!” he cried out joyfully. “Now they belong to us and we can -sell them in the next city and you can have everything you want to -make you happy. You can have a parasol to keep the sun off you, and a -litter with curtains at the sides to be carried in by slaves, and you -can wear a solid gold ring in your nose every day, and I can have a big -mirror to watch myself in while I’m dancing, and--” - -“Tell me what they look like,” said his mother, beginning to be a -little curious. “This brute is holding the cord so tight that I can’t -look around, but describe them to me.” - -“Well, one is bright red,” said her son, following quickly behind her. -“The one next to it is green, and the next after that shines like a -diamond.” He talked very slowly, as if he were examining the necklace -closely as he came along. “And now I see something else!” he cried out -in fresh excitement. “Each one has a sort of message written in it, -carved right inside it in beautiful tiny lettering.” - -“Ho, ho,” said his mother. “That’s probably why they’re called magic -beads.” - -“Oh, yes, that must be it. I hadn’t thought of that,” said the youngest -camel in an innocent-sounding voice. “The jade one has written inside -it,” he went on slowly, as if he were having difficulty in making out -the words, “‘I am the green valley you long for. You may live in me -forever.’ And the topaz bead says, ‘I am a silk tent to protect you -from sandstorms and from winter and from the midday sun.’ And the ruby -one says, ‘I am blood to flow in your veins and the veins of those you -love. Thus you may live forever.’ And the--” - -“Do any of them say anything about bones?” asked his mother, and the -little camel looked up with surprise. - -“Bones?” he repeated. - -“Yes, bones,” said his mother. “Perhaps I haven’t told you about that -yet, but if you don’t know it’s certainly high time you did. Although -we camels dread the smell or sight of death, there’s really nothing -nicer than being able to crunch the bones of a fallen relative later, -say three or four months after his demise when the flesh has fallen -quite off his bones. They taste very good,” she continued, almost -smacking her lips. “Like pretzels or salted almonds. It’s a great -comfort if you’ve lost someone dear to you to be able to munch him up -like that, and very good for the teeth and hoofs.” - -“Oh, yes,” said the youngest camel, as if he had been searching -all this time for it and just found it in the string. “Here is a -pure-white bead, like ivory, and all around it there is written -something in gold. Yes--bones,” he murmured. “I do think it says -something about bones.” - -“Read it quickly!” said his mother, and after a moment of hesitation -the little camel began reading aloud very slowly and uncertainly:-- - - “If it’s bones you want, - No longer hunt. - Just rub my--rub my cheek - And bones will creak.” - -“Well, that’s really wonderful,” said his mother, and now she had -entirely forgotten about the heat and how sore her hip was and how long -a way they had still to go. “I’m half tempted to have you try it here, -only it might be a bit embarrassing--” - -“Oh, I wouldn’t try it now, would you?” cried the little camel. “I -think it would be much better if we waited until this evening, because -if bones suddenly started creaking now the whole caravan would stop and -then they’d all see the beads around my neck--” - -“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” said his mother. “But I can scarcely -wait to try. Now, tell me what’s written inside the diamond, darling.” - -“Oh, the diamond,” said her son slowly and thoughtfully, exactly as if -he were having a good look for it among the other beads. “Well, it’s -rather difficult to make it out.” - -“I should think it would be very easy,” said the mother camel. “It -must be as clear as water, if it’s a real diamond, so that you can see -what’s written in it without any trouble at all.” - -“Well, you see, the diamond takes the rays of the sun on every one of -its points,” said the little camel, “and so it practically blinds me, -it dazzles so. But I think I can see something about ‘drink’ or ‘water’ -written in it. Oh, yes,” he went on presently, during which time his -mother concluded he had been studying the jewel. “Oh, yes. Now I can -see. I’ve got in the shadow of your tail and I can make out the words -quite well. It says--let me see--yes, it says:-- - - “When you would drink - Just cease to think - And bend your knee at my brink.” - -“Wonderful!” exclaimed his mother, joyfully, and he could see by the -way she ran youthfully over the sand that she had completely forgotten -all her troubles and discomforts. So through the entire blazing hot -day, as they crossed the desert, he told her one by one the endless -colors and verses of the beads. His little throat grew hoarser and -hoarser, and his tongue drier and drier from talking so much, but the -excited jerk of her shabby tail before him was enough to urge him on -and on. The amethyst was the jewel of memory, he told her, and you -only had to hold it for a minute in your ear for all the nice things -that had happened in the past to become the present. The moonstone was -the bead of the future, and after you had rubbed it hard you could see -reflected in it all that was going to happen, and so you could avoid -any coming danger. The sapphire was the bead of purity, and when you -were old you need only press it for an instant against your forehead to -have all your years drop from you like the petals from a flower. - -“And the opal,” he ended, as the blue light of evening began to fall. -“It is the bead for those who have told a lie. All you have to do is to -hold it under your tongue for half an hour and the lie you have told -becomes the truth.” - -“Ah, there’s the oasis at last!” his mother cried out. The youngest -camel lowered his head and peered through her legs, and there on the -horizon, which had not altered the entire day, he saw the distant dark -points which must be the oasis trees growing. “The time passed very -quickly, although I was so impatient to see the necklace every minute,” -his mother said. “But now in no time at all we can settle down and undo -our packs and then we can try the magic beads. The first one I’m going -to try is the sapphire, so I need not be old any longer, and then the -amethyst, so that all the nice things that happened to me before will -come true again, and your father will be alive with us, and then--” - -Strangely enough, the little camel said nothing at all, but simply -followed in her footsteps, and once they had reached the green island -in the vast white sea of sand, the mother camel turned eagerly to her -son. - -[Illustration: _The little camel said nothing at all, but simply -followed in her footsteps_] - -“Quickly now, darling, come with me behind the trees here and show me -the necklace,” she whispered, and she hurried him off out of sight -of the others. But now that they were quite alone, the youngest camel -only hung his head. “Quickly, quickly, where is it? I’ve never been so -anxious to see anything in my life--” - -“Mother,” said her child miserably, “there is no necklace.” - -“What?” she cried, tottering back under the tamarisk trees. “Do you -mean to say--oh, can it be possible--oh, good heavens, it can’t be all -a lie?” - -“I don’t know if it’s a lie or not,” said the little camel, and he -turned unhappily away from the sight of her grief and fingered the -tall grasses absent-mindedly. “I made it up so you would forget about -the heat, so perhaps that isn’t quite so bad as lying. I kept thinking -perhaps the necklace was really there, although I couldn’t see it, like -the caravan of white camels that girdles the earth, and like Mohammed--” - -“Oh, this is too much!” moaned his mother, covering her face with her -arms. “I never would have thought you could--I never dreamed--oh dear, -oh dear--” - -“But music’s invisible, isn’t it?” said the little camel in a gentle -voice. “I kept on saying things like that to myself to make the -necklace seem all right. I said, ‘Music’s invisible and history’s -invisible and memory’s invisible and love’s invisible and still they’re -all really there.’” - -His mother had now sunk down on the ground in despair, and realizing -she was on the verge of tears, her son took his harp off his shoulder -and shyly touched the strings. - -“I wasn’t sure if you’d feel like singing me to sleep tonight,” he said -in a low voice. “After all that happened, I thought you might rather -not. So I made up the words of a lullaby myself, and if you feel too -badly I’ll sing them instead.” - -His mother was weeping now and she did not answer, so he ran his -fingers lightly over the strings and began singing in a sad beautiful -voice through the night. - - “We have seen many colors together, - The color of the dying moon, the turquoise of men’s lips in death, - So we need wear no colors; - We can draw our shaggy coats around us - And sleepily, - sle-e-e-e-e-pily, sleep-i-i-i-i-i-ly, - dr-o-w-s-i-l-y, _d-r-o-w_-sily, - s-m-i-i-i-i-i-le. - - “At the halting places - We drink at bright pools by the trees; - Our coats are the color of drought and sand. - Does it matter? Oh, child, does it matter? - In our humps we carry a treasure of crystal and diamond-white water; - Jewel box of the desert, my son, you hold dreams - Of topaz and emerald, ruby and pearl, - Like nothing at all in your h-e-a-r-t, in your _h-e-a-r-t_.” - -No sooner had he finished than two camel drivers came to where they -were seated under the trees, and without speaking a word one of them -put a rope around the youngest camel’s neck. He was so surprised that -he simply stood there looking at them in amazement, but his mother -understood at once what was taking place, and she raised herself -quickly from her knees and said to him in a soft voice:-- - -“Do not resist them. Go quietly.” - -As they led him away, she hurried after him, calling:-- - -“Be brave, my son. Think of me and remember all I have told you.” - -To stop the noise she was making, one of the men turned and raised his -whip and struck her sharply on the soft part of her nose. She jumped -back with a little cry of pain, but long after they had started out -across the dark desert, the bewildered little camel could hear her -voice calling and calling to him:-- - -“Go quietly! Do not struggle! Do not forget me! Perhaps one day we -shall find each other again!” - - - - -[Illustration] - -_III_ - - -The two men led the youngest camel far, far out into the desert, and -after a long time, when they seemed to be out of sight and hearing of -any living thing, they gave him the command to lie down. He kneeled -obediently before them, and then they unwound the ropes from around -their waists and pushed him over on his side, and while one camel -driver sat on him, the other began hastily to bind him. They drew his -hind legs roughly forward and knotted them tightly to his forelegs, and -he never dreamed of kicking or protesting. He had been brought up to -look on man as master, for his mother had always told him this was one -of the unalterable truths. - -So he lay there very meekly on one side and allowed them to pass the -ropes around his body and draw them fast. He did not utter a sound, -but his heart was filled with fear. He was fastened so firmly that -he could scarcely breathe, and his ankles seemed almost cut in half, -but still he did not think to struggle. When their work was done, the -camel drivers each gave him a parting kick or two and then went off -in the direction from which they had come. He tried to raise his head -a little from the sand and with his eyes follow their retreat through -the starlit night. But after a moment the two shapes muffled in their -flowing robes were lost in the darkness, and as the little camel -realized he was alone, he uttered one sudden terrible scream. - -[Illustration: _He lay there very meekly on one side_] - -He had no intention of making a fuss or calling a lot of attention to -himself, but now he knew beyond any doubt that this was the ordeal of -loneliness at last and he could not control the shaking and the quaking -and the sobs which shook his frame. All about him lay the warm desert -silence, and there was no smell anywhere of other camels or of man. He -strained his ears until he thought they would fall from his head for -some sound of bells or perhaps the faintest echo of his mother’s voice -still calling out to him, but everything was as quiet as the tomb. - -After some time had passed like this, he began kicking with all his -strength. This was not such an easy matter, either, because his feet -were very firmly tied. But he doubled up his legs as best he could -and then shot them savagely out. All this served no purpose, however. -In fact, it seemed to draw the cords tighter and tighter around his -neck and shoulders and it certainly made the knots cut deeper into his -anklebones. So presently he gave that up and tried lifting himself by -pushing one shoulder and one hip hard against the ground. But this got -him no further, and added to everything else he had now got sand into -both his eyes, and his mouth was filled as well. In his misery, he -tried to remember all the things his mother had told him as they lay -under the oasis trees at night. Once she had said to him:-- - -“If a camel falls ill or is overcome with old age while crossing the -desert, the men unsaddle and unload him and divide his pack among the -others, and then he is abandoned. They leave him alone there to die, -kicking hour after hour against death, while his friends are forced on, -screaming aloud with terror and despair and trying to look back over -their shoulders at him as they go.” - -“If the truth is so terrible as all that,” he had said to his mother, -“I don’t see why anyone pays any attention to it. I think it would be -much better to make up something else instead.” - -And another night his mother had said to him-- - -“If a camel does not have the smell of his own kind about him, he is -horribly frightened. But this is such a foolish thing, if you really -stop and think about it, that wise camels have taught themselves to -master their fear.” And another time his mother had said: “If we camels -have silence in our ears, that is another thing that drives us out -of our minds with fright. Perhaps that is the reason they hang bells -around our necks or perhaps that is why you like to sing so loud at -night when everything is still.” - -Remembering her words, the little camel began to sing in a high -quavering voice. He was in such a state of nerves that he didn’t know -what words he sang, and the tune kept changing from one thing to -another, and he couldn’t manage to keep on the right key. But still -he went on singing and singing, making up songs about nothing lasting -forever, and about the swiftness of time passing. - - “All the time I am singing [was what he sang], - Time is passing, passing, passing. - The ordeal of loneliness will be over before I know it. - The camel drivers will come back and fetch me - And I’ll run as fast as I can to Aqsu and find my mother--” - -But when he reached the word “mother” his voice rose to a high wail and -the tears rushed into his eyes and down his cheeks. Very soon after -this, he must have cried himself to sleep, and when he awoke the sun -was already rising. He rolled his eyes around in bewilderment a moment, -and then he felt the ropes fast on his legs and neck still and the sand -gritting in his teeth, and he knew where he was and why he was there. -As the sun rose, it beat hotter and hotter on him and the sky seemed -to be on fire above him and the sand on fire underneath him, and it is -very probable that he became delirious as noon approached. - -At one moment he thought he heard the faraway tinkling of camel bells -and he tried to call out, but he could not. A little later, he thought -he saw pomegranate flowers and fruit hanging on cool leafy branches -before his eyes. Hour after hour passed and he lay there gasping under -the sun, and at times he believed that icy pools of water were just -within reach, and at other times he thought that fresh ripe figs were -just about to melt on his tongue. His eyes were glazing as his fever -rose, and his mind was filled with visions of strange and beautiful -things. With his parched black lips he kept repeating:-- - -“Music’s invisible, memory’s invisible, love’s invisible,” and in the -same faint voice he whispered: “Even hope’s invisible, but it must be -there just the same--” - -As he uttered these words, he heard a gentle sigh like a breeze -stirring the air, and the next instant a hand was laid on his forehead. -He looked up through the blinding waves of heat and he saw a man -standing beside him and leaning over to stroke him, but strangely -enough there was no smell of man in his nostrils. - -“This must be another vision,” he said to himself, but at once the man -began speaking to him in a sweet musical voice. - -“I’ve been waiting around for seventeen hours for you to say that,” -said the man, and for some inexplicable reason he spoke a language -which the youngest camel understood with ease. - -“Say what?” he murmured, and the man crossed his legs under him and sat -down on the sand. Then he lifted the little camel’s head and laid it on -his silk-clad knees and stroked back his hair as a mother might have -done. - -“I’ve been waiting for you to say the word ‘hope,’” he answered, -“because as soon as you said that you proved you hadn’t given up, and -then I was able to become visible and rescue you.” - -“Who are you?” asked the little camel. He was almost too weak to keep -his eyes open now, but he felt the man loosening the ropes that bound -him and this gave him courage to speak. - -“Oh, I’m one of Mohammed’s sons,” the man said casually. “I’m one of -the youngest and not one of the important ones. This year I’ve been -given all the camels to keep an eye on. That’s why I’m here.” All the -time he talked he kept undoing the ropes and drawing them from under -the little camel’s hot body and shaking them off his ankles. “If only -you’d mentioned the word ‘hope’ sooner I could have let you free hours -and hours ago. You see, ‘hope’ is the one word that lets me become -human for a little while and help camels when they have been bound up -like this by men. I had to stick around here quite invisible until you -said that one particular word. One of the laws is that I’m not allowed -to make any suggestions, no matter how much else I have to do. So you -can see what a lot of time I have to waste just waiting.” - -“Why is the word ‘hope’ magic?” asked the youngest camel, stretching -out one stiff leg to see if it still could move. And now Mohammed’s -son lifted the little camel’s head up again and laid it against his -shoulder while he shook the remaining cords away. When he did this, the -little camel saw that he was young and very handsome. He was wearing a -silk turban with pearls and turquoises embroidered on it, and carved -gold ornaments hung from his ears, and there was a look of great -gentleness in his face. - -“Well, you see, _h_ stands for ‘help,’ and _o_ stands for ‘O,’ and _p_ -stands for ‘power,’ and _e_ stands for ‘eternal,’” he said so lightly -and merrily that he seemed to be making fun of something. He took out -a little ivory flask from his garments and poured some fresh water -between the little camel’s burning lips. “So when you say ‘hope’ like -that, you’re really saying ‘Help, O power eternal!’ And that means me -because I’ve been appointed your patron saint this year.” - -The youngest camel was feeling so much better by this time that, -assisted by Mohammed’s son, he was able to get to his knees and look -around him. But there was nothing at all to see as far as the eye could -reach but the empty sky and the wastes of sand. Feeling a bit dizzy -still, the little camel looked up into the young man’s face and tried -to smile. - -“I’m sorry I can’t give you anything to eat,” Mohammed’s son went on -as he patted the little camel’s cheek affectionately. “But it’s really -too difficult to travel around invisible with a lot of mimosa branches -and bones and things hanging on me. But if you feel strong enough now, -I can start you off in the direction for Aqsu. I’m sure you won’t have -any trouble at all in finding your way.” - -“Oh, please, don’t leave me alone! Please stay with me until I find -my mother and the caravan again!” the youngest camel pleaded. But -Mohammed’s son shook his head at him and gently smiled. - -“I can’t run around after you like a nursemaid,” he said. “You see, -there are lots and lots of other young camels in just the same -situation as you were in when I came along, and I have to rescue them -too if it’s not too late. Only most of them are so stupid or have been -so obstinate about not listening to what older camels say that I can’t -do anything for them. They just won’t use the word ‘hope,’ so I usually -have to leave them there bound up.” The little camel thought to himself -that certainly no one had ever been able to call him stupid in his -whole life, and he began to feel rather pleased with himself again. “My -father made a rule,” Mohammed’s son went on, “that the guardian of the -camels could only bring help to those whom men had tied up in knots; -therefore, no matter what happens to you, I won’t be able to help you -any further. But I’m sure nothing can possibly happen to you now if you -listen carefully to my directions and do exactly what I say.” - -The little camel was able to stand now and even to walk without too -much difficulty, and Mohammed’s son led him a little farther into the -desert. All the time he talked lightly and happily to him as they went. - -“Now, the thing to keep in mind is that you must follow the sun,” he -said. “If you do that, and run very fast, you will be in Aqsu just as -night is beginning to fall. Remember not to let the sun show either -over your right shoulder or over your left, and don’t let the heat -of the sun fall warm on your tail. That will mean you are going in -quite the wrong direction. About twenty miles from Aqsu you’ll come -to a lovely oasis with hundreds of herons bathing in the waters and -flamingos flying through the luxuriant glades. When you reach that -oasis, you will know for certain that you haven’t much farther to go. -If you do as I say,” said the young man, stopping and putting one arm -around the youngest camel’s neck, “you can’t possibly make a mistake.” - -The little camel began to wonder if he had ever in his entire life -made a mistake, and he really couldn’t think of a single time he had. -But now Mohammed’s son was saying farewell, and the little camel cried -out:-- - -“Oh, thank you a thousand times! Thank you, thank you!” - -“Now you must repeat after me the word which restores me to godhead,” -the young man said. “For it is past time for me to go.” - -“What is the word?” the youngest camel asked, and the other replied:-- - -“Pernod.” - -“What does it mean? What does per--” the little camel began, curiously, -but Mohammed’s son interrupted him:-- - -“Don’t say it or I’ll disappear at once and then I won’t be able to -tell you! _Pe_ stands for ‘power eternal’ just as before, and _rnod_ -stands for ‘reign near our dreams.’ I never liked the word ‘reign’ -much, but my father thought it added dignity to the formula so we let -him have his way. So now repeat it after me--_P-e-r-n-o-d_.” - -“Oh, please let me thank you again,” the little camel said, “and, -please, wouldn’t it be possible for you to let my mother know that -I’m--” - -“Good gracious,” said the young man, “you mustn’t think about yourself -all the time the way you do! I have so much work to do I really haven’t -the time to rush around with personal messages to camels’ mothers--” - -“I’m sorry,” said the youngest camel, and this time when Mohammed’s son -smiled at him and said the word he repeated it at once: “Pernod!” - -As soon as the syllables had passed his lips, the handsome youth waved -his hand in farewell and vanished from sight. Without wasting another -instant, the little camel turned his head towards the sun and, his -heart singing with hope in him, began to run as fast as he possibly -could across the stretches of white desert in the direction of Aqsu. - - - - -[Illustration] - -_IV_ - - -By four o’clock in the afternoon the little camel was still running -hard, but now he had begun to slacken his pace a little, for it seemed -to him that some sort of object was appearing on the horizon far, far -away. Whatever it was, it was decidedly to one side and not at all in -the direction of the sun where the handsome youth had told him the -oasis would be. As he ran he kept glancing out of the corner of one eye -at the dark object that seemed to be growing bigger and bigger over his -left shoulder, and he kept asking himself what in the world it could be. - -After a while his curiosity got the best of him and he stopped running -entirely and turned halfway around and gave the dark thing a good long -stare. And then he really began to suspect it was the oasis. It looked -exactly like an oasis. He was sure he could make out the tops of the -trees against the sky. It was certainly the oasis. In another minute he -had turned all the way around, and even though he felt the light of the -sun falling warm on his tail, he was convinced it was the oasis. - -He thought he could even make out tiny black specks hovering above it. - -“Those are probably the herons and the flamingos,” he said to himself. -“Mohammed’s son said there were hundreds of them there.” - -So without any further hesitation he started running again, but -this time in an entirely different direction from the one in which -Mohammed’s son had told him he should go. Faster and faster he sped -towards the perfectly clear oasis ahead, and now the sun was shining -well over his right shoulder. - -“Mohammed’s son certainly didn’t know what he was talking about,” he -said with a little snort of laughter. “It’s evident even to an idiot -that the oasis is over there right in front of me and not in the -direction of the sun in the slightest.” - -In half an hour at the most, he thought, he would be snuggling down -against his mother among the fresh grasses of the oasis twenty miles -this side of Aqsu. He knew he was absolutely right and he began -complimenting himself on his quick eyes and wits. Most young camels -would have gone right on and never noticed what fools they were making -of themselves, he thought with satisfaction. - -“It just shows,” he said to himself, “that it doesn’t pay to believe -everything you’re told.” - -He was so pleased with himself that he began to whistle as he ran. He -whistled treble and bass and, by curling his tongue up against his -lower teeth, managed to do some double-stops. And now that he made out -what looked exactly like branches of palm trees waving against the sky -ahead, he gave a few little hops and skips of joy. - -Before he had gone much farther a flock of herons came flying across -the heavens towards him, and as they came near to him they circled -lower, so low in fact that he could see their long legs dangling in the -air behind them as they flew. The sight of such a baby camel running -so fast and quite alone across the sands made them circle closer and -closer above him in wonder, and at last the leader of the herons called -down:-- - -“Where are you going so fast, four-footed child?” - -The youngest camel was a bit annoyed at being called a child by birds -he had never laid eyes on before, and he tossed his head rather -insolently as he answered:-- - -“I’m going to the oasis which my mother is passing through with her -caravan. If they’ve started on by the time I get there, I’ll run -straight on to Aqsu.” - -“You’ve lost your way, four-footed child!” the herons called down in -chorus. “We’re going to the oasis for the night. Watch us and follow -where we go.” - -“But I can see the oasis as clear as day ahead!” the little camel cried -out impatiently. “You must be blind as bats, old birds! Can’t you see -the palms and the--” - -“You’ve lost your way!” the leader of the herons called down to him -again as she swept above him and beckoned with one wing. But the -youngest camel went running on in his own direction as fast as he could -go. - -“They’re just as stupid as I always thought,” said the little camel to -himself. “They can’t see two inches in front of their big beaks, the -silly-looking creatures!” - -The flock of them swerved over him once more, calling to him to come, -and then they flew off, their legs floating on the air behind them. -He glanced around to watch them go, and in a few moments they were -nothing but tiny specks against the sky, and presently they were lost -completely in the sun’s dying light. When the little camel looked -back at the oasis again, he saw to his surprise that for some reason -it was not a bit nearer than it had been before. He could see the -palms clearly enough, and the birdlike shapes hovering above, but he -certainly was no closer to it, though all the time he had been running -fast. - -[Illustration: _And then they flew off, their legs floating on the air -behind them_] - -His legs were beginning to feel tired now, and his feet hot and sore, -and he suddenly felt angry with everyone and everything. He kicked -viciously at the sand as he ran, and after another little while, as -if he must put the blame on someone, he looked back over his right -shoulder and stuck out his tongue and wrinkled his nose up at the sun. -The whole world was turning pink now at the end of day, and the -wide desert was glowing with the sun’s last light. There was the oasis -still, not so very far away, and yet mysteriously just as far as it had -ever been. - -As the youngest camel went running on in discouragement, a flock of -flamingos came winging towards him, their feathers and their legs -colored like the petals of a rose. When they saw such a baby camel -running so desperately across the wastes of sand, they circled several -times above him, their legs hanging down like brilliant satin ribbons, -and the leader called down:-- - -“Where are you going so fast, four-footed child?” and he answered in -irritation:-- - -“I don’t see why you have to ask such a stupid question! Can’t you see -I’m going to the oasis?” - -But he was so tired now that he stopped running while he talked to -them, and stood stamping his foot in the sand. - -“You have lost your way, four-footed child!” the flamingos all called -out to him in chorus. “We are going to the oasis! Follow us and we will -show you!” - -They wheeled once above him, calling out to him to follow, and then -they flapped slowly off in the direction of the setting sun. He stood -looking after them rather wistfully for a moment, and then he tossed -his head and turned back towards the oasis. It seemed to him now to be -even farther away than ever, and tears came into his eyes. - -“I’m _sure_ I couldn’t have made a mistake,” he said stubbornly. “I’m -sure I couldn’t be wrong. It’s absolutely impossible.” - -“Why in the world should that be impossible?” asked a clear little -trilling voice very close to his ear, and when he looked quickly around -him he saw that scores of brightly feathered little birds were flying -and darting in the air about his head. From the feeling of it, some -of them had certainly alighted on his hump and some on the back of -his neck, and there they were all chattering and chirping together. -The bird who had spoken to him was no bigger than a pear leaf, but -its feathers were brighter than a peacock’s. In company with others -just like it, it spun and darted on the air before him, humming and -whistling and eying him sharply and curiously. - -“I haven’t made any mistakes yet in my life,” he said boldly. “I can’t -think of a single time I’ve been wrong.” - -At this, all the little birds uttered tiny shrieks of laughter and -swayed back and forth on their perches on his spinal column and on his -neck and on the top of his head. To his annoyance he realized that some -of them were swinging and shrieking with laughter on his tail, and he -thrashed it angrily from side to side. - -“Well, if you’re so smart and know so much about me,” he said -furiously, “tell me once when I’ve done something I shouldn’t! I’m sure -you can’t think of a single time. I know I’m a very good singer because -everyone I ever met said I was, and I’m a very good poet and I’m--” - -“Oh, good heavens!” screamed the dozens and dozens of little birds all -together, and their shrill laughter trilled and whistled all around him. - -“There’s nothing at all to laugh at!” the youngest camel cried out, -stamping his foot. “I’m simply telling you the truth--” - -“Oh, my goodness!” shrieked all the birds again. - -“You speaking the truth!” cried the first little bird as she cavorted -on the air before him, and all the birds’ tongues tinkled like little -bells with laughter. “Do you remember the terrible lie you told your -mother about finding the necklace?” - -Either the very last crimson rays of the sun on him or his own -conscience turned the little camel’s face bright red and he hung his -head between his legs and looked hard at the sand. - -“You’ve always made the mistake of being conceited,” one clear sweet -bird’s voice sang to him, and immediately the other voices went on with -it, one by one, as if it were so many verses of the same song they were -singing as they fluttered about him in the evening air. - -“You always made the mistake of not believing what your mother told -you,” rippled the notes from one feathered throat, and the next one -sang:-- - -“You always bullied creatures smaller than yourself.” - -“You were wrong not to do what Mohammed’s son told you,” whistled -another, and still another trilled:-- - -“You were always a coward except when you were with your mother.” - -“You were so pleased with yourself you wouldn’t listen to the herons,” -sang the next, and one, swinging far back on the youngest camel’s tail, -chirped:-- - -“You have always been the most conceited camel on the desert,” and -another sang clearly to him:-- - -“You made the mistake of insulting the flamingos when they tried to -help you! Now they’re your enemies for life!” - -“But I could see the oasis right before me all the time!” the little -camel cried out, by this time very near to tears. “It’s so plain -anybody can see it if they simply look--” He swung around to point out -to them the far waving palms and the birds hovering over the trees -against the horizon ahead, and then he stopped short and stared in -amazement, for nowhere in sight was there any sign of anything at all. -“But--but--what’s happened--but--there was--but--I don’t understand--” -he stammered, and with a loud sweet trill of laughter the scores of -bright small birds took wing from his back and his tail and from the -crown of his head and the tips of his ears and paused a moment with a -rush of wings above him. - -“There wasn’t any oasis!” one shrill musical bird voice called down to -him, and all the other voices sang in chorus together:-- - -“You saw a mirage! A mirage! You saw a mirage!” - -“You’re lost!” cried the first bird’s clear little voice. “You thought -you knew better than anyone else, and now you’re lost!” - -They all gave another burst of laughter, and then they called out:-- - -“A mirage, a mirage! You saw a mirage!” - -In another instant, the flock of them had risen straight above him and -vanished into nothing in the graying sky. - -Now that the youngest camel found himself alone in the falling night, -he sank down upon his knees in despair. He laid his quivering chin upon -his forelegs and sobs shook his bowed little shoulders. He was alone, -he was lost, with nothing to eat or drink and not even his harp to -comfort him. Which way Aqsu lay he no longer knew, and in his grief he -believed that he would never find his mother or any other living thing -again. - -“Hope, hope, where are you?” he cried out in desperation. But he knew -that magic word was powerless now to bring Mohammed’s son to his side. -As complete darkness fell around him, his terror grew and he rose to -his feet again and stumbled blindly on. “Oh, why, why did I let the sun -fall warm on my tail?” he wept aloud. “It was just what he told me not -to do.” - - - - -[Illustration] - -_V_ - - -During that night the youngest camel must have dropped in his tracks -and fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, for the next thing he knew the -sun was shining on his face again. He jumped to his feet quickly in the -early day and, as if his life depended on it, he began running towards -the rising sun. But in a moment he stopped short, saying to himself:-- - -“But it wasn’t in the morning when Mohammed’s son said I should run -straight in the direction of the sun’s face. Perhaps that makes a -difference. Perhaps I should run with the sun behind me now if I want -to find my way to the oasis.” - -So he turned around and began running as fast as he could in the -opposite direction, thinking to himself that everything would surely be -all right now. All he need do was to run away from the sun until the -noon hour came and it was exactly in the middle of the sky, and then -as it came down the other side he would race straight towards it, and -perhaps he wouldn’t be too late to catch up his mother and the caravan -if they had taken their time about setting out from Aqsu. He was -feeling quite comforted by these thoughts, and at the same time he was -trying very hard not to feel too self-satisfied because he had worked -out the movements of the sun without any help from anyone older and -wiser than himself. He was hungry and he wanted a drink very badly, but -somehow he was filled with new hope and courage now that another day -had dawned. - -He kept up his pace for an hour or more without seeing any sign of life -either on earth or in the sky, and there was no doubt that he did not -mind the nothingness and the loneliness nearly as much as he had the -day before. With every step he took, he felt a little bit braver and -a little bit surer that he was going in the right direction at last. -So when he saw two black shapes on the desert far ahead, he said to -himself:-- - -“I’m certain they’re nice friendly sort of creatures who will tell me -how many miles the oasis lies ahead.” - -On he went with eager, flying feet, and soon he saw that the two black -forms were those of birds. Two enormous birds were apparently seated on -the sand having a conversation together, their backs turned to him and -their heads nodding and shaking as they talked. But as he came nearer, -he ran less quickly towards them, for he saw their heads were bald as -ostrich eggs and reddish in color, and that they were not conversing at -all but tearing fiercely with their curved beaks and their great claws -at something they held between them on the sand. - -[Illustration: “_It’s much wiser to be polite to everyone I meet, -because one never knows._”] - -“Vultures!” thought the youngest camel, and a little tremor of -fear went through him, for his mother had told him stories enough -of how these creatures lived. He was about to turn to one side and -make a curve to avoid them, but then he remembered all that the -bright-feathered, sharp-tongued little birds had said to him the night -before. “It’s much wiser to be polite to everyone I meet, because -one never knows,” he said to himself, and he stepped a little closer to -them. “Please,” he began in a timid voice, and both vultures were so -startled by the sound that they each gave a squawk and jumped a full -yard into the air. - -“Snakes alive!” cried one bird as she came down on the sand again and -with the claws of one foot seized upon the thing they had been eating. -“You ought to give some warning instead of creeping up on people like -that!” - -“I thought you must have seen me long ago,” said the youngest camel -apologetically. - -“Not at all,” said the second vulture. “We came down to finish eating -this hare in peace and quiet and we had no idea anyone was spying on -us.” - -As she said this, she snatched up in her vicious claws the other end of -what was left of the hare and started tearing at it with her beak. - -“I didn’t mean to spy,” said the little camel. “I just wanted to ask -you if I am going in the right direction for the oasis and Aqsu.” - -When he said this, both birds stopped fighting over their prey and -looked at him with interest. - -“Are you lost?” asked the first one in a sharp, rather eager voice. - -“Yes, I’m afraid I am,” said the little camel. “But I think by running -ahead of the sun until noon and then running towards it all afternoon -I’m sure to come to the oasis in the end. At least, Mohammed’s son told -me yesterday to keep the sun straight before me--” - -“Ah, but yesterday was yesterday,” said the first vulture with a giggle -as she gave her sister a sly glance. “Today is today, so of course -everything is quite different.” - -“I don’t see how the sun can be any different,” said the youngest -camel. “The sun always follows exactly the same course, so all I have -to do is follow the sun as soon as it is past the noon hour--” - -“Where in the world did you learn that the sun always follows the same -course?” cried the second vulture. “There’s an idea for you!” - -“Why, it never does the same thing twice,” said the other vulture, -still giggling behind her wing. “Some days it runs all over the place, -getting behind clouds and hiding behind mountains. Yesterday it was -going from north to south, just for the fun of it, and today, as you -can see for yourself, it’s going from east to west.” - -“Don’t imagine you can count on the sun!” said the second sister with -great contempt, and she went back to pulling and tugging at the remains -of the hare. - -“You might just as well become acquainted with us now,” said the first -vulture, seizing on one of the best bits for herself. “My name’s Annie -and my sister’s name is Mabel, and if you’re really lost you’ll come to -know us very well indeed in the end.” - -“Yes, I am lost,” said the youngest camel, looking from one to the -other of their faces. “I thought perhaps you’d be kind enough to tell -me which way the oasis lies.” - -“I must say he’s quite truthful,” said Annie with a gulp as she -swallowed the dead hare’s fuzzy tail. - -“I haven’t always been,” said the youngest camel, “but I think I’ve -learned my lesson now and I’m trying very hard not to lie any more. But -now that you tell me the sun isn’t going the same way today as it did -yesterday, I simply don’t know what to do--” - -“It would have been better for your sake if you hadn’t told the truth -this time,” said Mabel, ignoring his last remark. Then she turned back -to the business before them and began slicing the hare’s heart into -neat roast-beef-like portions with her beak. - -“But why?” asked the youngest camel, rather disgusted at the way the -two sisters grabbed and squawked over their meal. - -“Well, as long as you’re lost,” said Annie, “then you can’t find the -oasis, and if you can’t find the oasis then you’re sure to die in -another two or three days--” She paused to pick her teeth reflectively -with the yellow claw of one foot. “You’re small but you’re rather well -covered with meat,” she said in a moment, and at this the two sisters -looked at each other and cackled out loud. - -Suddenly, the poor little camel realized what their conversation was -all about and he gave a scream of terror. He reared up on his hind legs -with fright and spun around, and set off as fast as he could across the -desert. He had no idea which way he was going and it didn’t matter much -any more whether he was lost or not. He only knew he must get out of -sight of the two bald sisters, and out of the sound of their chortling -laughter. So he ran at full speed until the midday sun beat down on his -head like fire, and then he slowed into a walk. He hoped that walking -quietly along would make his heart stop beating so fast and loud with -fear, and he tried making up some rhymed poetry so as to steady his -nerves. But nothing sounded right to him, neither the sonnet form, nor -rondos, nor madrigals, nor pastorals, nor odes. The laments and ballads -and elegies were even less successful, so in despair he decided on just -trying to write a letter to his mother in verse, but he couldn’t think -of a single original or even beautiful line. - - “Dear Mother [he began], how in the world am I going to get on without - you? - I miss your hump and your sore hip and everything about you. - -“That’s just plain statement of fact. That isn’t poetry,” he -interrupted himself severely. “Now see if you can’t think of something -really lyrical the way you used to at the oasis at night.” - -But the silly, everyday sort of letter went on:-- - - “I’ve made a fool of myself with every bird that flies - And with Mohammed’s son, and I’ve told so many lies.” - -But he couldn’t help adding at the end:-- - - “One or two things I’ve said are true: - History, Music, Memory, - Are still the invisible three, - And Love, invisible it’s true, - Still has the shape and smell of you.” - -He wasn’t at all satisfied with this, and even when he had repeated -it over two or three times to himself and once out loud he did not -feel the glow of pride which usually suffused his being after he had -composed a poem. - -“Perhaps it might be better if I tried putting it to music,” he said. -But the fact that he did not have his harp with him made the biggest -difference, and now when he opened his lips to sing, nothing but a -hoarse whisper came from his mouth. By this time, he knew beyond -any shadow of doubt that he was neither a poet nor a singer, and he -swallowed his pride and said bravely to himself: “Very well, then. Now -I have found out the truth about myself. It’s time I did. I cannot -write poetry and I cannot sing, but perhaps I can dance.” - -He remembered the foolish poem he had made up about dancing for the -Shah and the Lamas and the Raj with a tambourine tied to his tail, and -now he tried to execute a few dance steps across the burning sand. But -he only tottered awkwardly from side to side, and if he hadn’t stopped -at once he would certainly have toppled over. - -“I am a camel without any gifts of any kind,” he told himself in a -stern voice. “Everything I have believed about myself has been blind, -empty vanity. I have no talent as a poet, nor as a singer, nor as a -dancer, and now that I am much too weak to carry a load and walk in a -caravan with other camels, I am no good to anyone on earth and I might -as well be dead.” - -Indeed this might very easily have been the end of the youngest camel, -for there seemed no reason at all why he should not have sunk down -there under the blistering heat and quietly breathed his last. And in -another day or two Annie and Mabel would have come flapping along and -smiled sideways at each other as they wheeled above him, and after -circling over him a few times they would have descended and begun their -meal. Only this isn’t at all what happened, for now that the little -camel admitted that he no longer thought his own voice so beautiful and -his own poetry so fine, and no longer longed for a full-length mirror -so that he could see how lovely he looked while he danced, he seemed to -be able to hear other voices which he had never dreamed existed. The -air that passed his ears seemed now to have the power of speech, and as -he walked he listened. - -“There is an oasis in every camel’s desert of despair,” said one -particle of air to him, and another murmured:-- - -“It cannot be far now, for you have come a long way.” - -“Keep a stiff upper hump,” said the soft warm air in his ears. “Be -armed with patience, lamblike, quiet as a mouse, cool as a cucumber.” - -“I’ll try,” said the youngest camel meekly, although he was feeling -very hot. - -Even the sand under his feet seemed to be endowed with speech now, for -as it ran through his hoofs he heard it whispering:-- - -“The wind is coming, the wind is coming.” - -“The wind is coming,” murmured one grain of sand to another all over -the desert, and the others whispered:-- - -“In a little while we shall have to rise and dance.” - -Before the little camel had gone much farther, he saw a white cloud of -wind advancing rapidly across the clear blue sky, and in another minute -he heard it wailing:-- - -“Here I am, ow-oooo-ow--oooooo! Here is your master, ow-ooo! Arise, -slaves! A-r-i-i-i-i-se!” - -Here and there across the desert the sand began to rise in spirals, -whirling and turning and swaying its arms in the frantic dance. Wild, -ghost-like figures of sand spun up around the youngest camel, reaching -taller and taller above him. - -“Dance! Dance!” screamed the wind as he lashed them, and in an instant -the little camel was almost blinded by the gritty veils which were -flung into his eyes. Nothing could he see to the east or the west or -the north or the south except the dervish-like white figures which -spun around him. The sun seemed to have been blown from the sky, and -the gray of twilight closed upon them. As the little camel staggered -blindly on through the swirling skirts of flying sand, he heard the -voices speaking secretly in his ears. - -“Close your eyes,” whispered one sand dervish as the wind thrust her -fiercely upon him. - -“Close your lips,” said another as the wind blew her savagely against -the little camel’s tender nose. - -“Do not breathe deeply,” whispered a third, and still another -murmured:-- - -“Do not struggle. You will only wear yourself out.” - -The force of the wind had blown every thought from his head, and now he -closed his eyes and his lips as the sand dervishes had bade him and he -let himself be guided by their gentle hands. How many hours passed like -this he never knew. All around him spun the tireless dancers, torn this -way and that by the wind’s screaming fury, and when they came near they -whispered words of hope and courage to him. - -“When you find the pathway between the winds, you will be saved,” one -sand dervish murmured in his ear, and another one whispered:-- - -“Believe in us. We will show you the way.” - -All through that afternoon, perhaps, and through the night that -followed, the youngest camel staggered blind and spent through the -storm. But now there seemed to be no longer any division of time, no -night or day, no sun or moon, no heat or cold. But finally, when he -thought he could go no farther, the voice of a sand dervish whispered -to him:-- - -“Now we have brought you to the pathway between the winds. Go quietly -ahead. Farewell.” - -Almost at once the gale’s force grew less and less about him and the -screams of the wind grew fainter and fainter until there was nothing -to be heard except a last long parting wail. Then a perfect calmness -fell upon the earth and air around the little camel, and in another -moment he ventured to open his eyes. And there he stood blinking in -bewilderment, for he saw he was no longer on the desert, nor was there -any sign of sand or a distant horizon to be seen. His feet lay on a -carpet of fresh green grasses, and a little rivulet ran chattering -through the rocks beside him. All about stood luxuriant fruit trees -with their boughs laden, and through their thick foliage he saw the -sun was rising. Delicate birds with bright exotic plumage winged from -branch to branch above his head, and shy wood animals moved swiftly in -the glades. - -Now that his eyes grew accustomed to these unexpected wonders, he saw -that a few steps before him, just at the edge of the wood, a silk tent -was pitched. Its brocaded doors were caught back with brooches of -shining stones and a thin thread of incense smoke was drawn languidly -upward from its opening onto the quiet air. The youngest camel looked -in amazement about him, and then he fell joyfully on his knees at the -stream’s brink and lowered his head toward the cool running water. But -before he had time to drink, a rather lazy, indolent voice called out -to him from inside the tent. - -“Not so fast, not so fast, young camel. Listen first to what I have to -say. You have passed through the third and last night of your ordeal of -loneliness,” it said, “but the third day is just dawning. Twelve hours -lie ahead of you before you may safely eat or drink. The day which is -just being born is the Day of Temptation. Some camels consider it the -most difficult day of all.” - -If anyone had said this to the little camel the week before, he would -have paid no attention at all, but would have gone right ahead and -drunk his fill at the brook. Then he would have jumped up and run to -the big trees and started pulling the fruit hungrily down from the -heavily laden boughs. But so much had happened to him in the past two -days that now he rose obediently without so much as wetting his parched -lips, and turned respectfully towards the beautiful silk tent. - -“Well, I must say you’ve saved yourself a lot of trouble,” the voice -went on, and the youngest camel stood listening to it with lowered -head. “If you hadn’t done what I told you, all this would have vanished -in the twinkling of an eye and you would be right back in the middle of -the sandstorm again and this time the sand dervishes would never have -helped you to get out.” - -“I thought the storm was over, master,” said the little camel, not -daring to lift his eyes towards the tent. - -“Oh, it never stops,” the lazy voice went on. “It’s always there for -other camels to get lost in the way you did. It’s always blowing just -as hard as when you were in it, only you can’t hear it any more -because the sand dervishes showed you the pathway between the winds.” - -“Why were they so kind as to help me, O master?” asked the little camel -respectfully, and the sleepy voice answered:-- - -“Probably because you admitted in that poem you made up yesterday that -you were really very conceited and had made a fool of yourself with -everybody you met. The herons and the flamingos gave a very bad report -on you, but apparently you got a little more sensible later. If you -manage to get through today without being childish, you ought to be -having a nice champagne supper somewhere with your mother this evening.” - -[Illustration: _The little camel took another uncertain step towards -the tent_] - -The youngest camel felt a tremor of joy go through him at these words, -and he felt himself strong enough now to resist any temptation that -might come along. He almost jumped straight up into the air with -delight, but his knees were so weak under him from lack of food and -weariness that he decided not to make any unnecessary movements. -Instead he called out in an enraptured voice:-- - -“Oh, I know I can get through today all right! I’m absolutely certain -I’ll do everything the way I should!” - -“You don’t know anything about it,” said the voice, and it sounded now -as if its owner were stifling a yawn. “You mustn’t start out by being -so sure of anything. Come in and pay reverence to me and I’ll explain -things to you more fully. Come along in, don’t be bashful,” it said as -the little camel hesitated and teetered on one foot near the open door. -“All you have to do is pay homage to me and then you have nothing to -fear.” - -The little camel took another uncertain step towards the tent, and then -he halted again and said:-- - -“Please, I’m afraid I don’t know how to pay homage. You see, nobody -ever taught me how.” - -“Oh, just bow down a few times and strike your forehead once or twice -on the floor, and kiss my big toe if you feel like it,” said the -sleepy voice. “It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you -feel inferior to me inside. It’s just part of the rigamarole and the -sooner you get it over with the better. Some camels are so arrogant -they absolutely refuse to do it, and then it’s really such a bore for -everybody. They have to go right back to Annie and Mabel and be torn to -pieces for dinner.” - -When he heard this, the little camel made haste to enter the tent, -and there he fell promptly on his knees and struck his forehead three -times on the richly carpeted floor. After he had done this, he advanced -with lowered head to embrace the unknown person’s toe. The smell of -incense was strong and sweet on the air, and when his eyes had become -accustomed to the dim light he saw that it was a spotlessly clean gold -hoof he kissed. He glanced quickly up and looked shyly and curiously -at the owner of it, and lo! it was an enormously fat and incredibly -ancient camel with a coat as white as snow. - -The great kingly camel was lolling back on a divan covered with silk -cushions of every color of the rainbow, and with one hand he lazily -fanned himself with a soft peacock-feather fan. A necklace of opals as -big as alligator eggs hung around his shoulders, and elaborate earrings -of opals and tiny bright diamonds studded his hairy ears. But it was -his eyes which held the youngest camel entranced--they were big and -brown, and heavy lids hung over them like white velvet curtains. Every -time the white velvet curtains seemed about to close completely over -his eyes, the old camel would snap them up again, and then slowly, -sleepily, they again began falling, until the final moment when he -jerked them back. This happened several times before he spoke. - -“Stand up,” he said with a yawn. “You don’t have to overdo it. It’s -just as bad to be too humble as it is to be too self-satisfied. There’s -certainly no need to call me master, although I don’t mind at all your -revering and worshiping me.” He leaned up on one elbow, slowly fanning -himself, and examined the youngest camel. “You wouldn’t be bad-looking -if you learned how to carry yourself better,” he said at last. “You let -your head hang down as if you were ashamed of something, and you have a -rather silly smile.” - -“I’m sorry,” said the little camel, standing contritely before him. - -“Oh, it doesn’t really make any difference,” said the white camel -dreamily, and he raised his fan to hide his yawn behind the peacock -feathers. “Everyone has different ideas about things. Men try to -make their children sit up straight so they won’t have humps on their -backs and mother camels do all they can to make their children hump -themselves for fear their backs will turn out straight. It’s just a -matter of preference. But now you mustn’t keep us dawdling here any -longer, for it’s getting late and we must set out on our journey. Oh, -in case you didn’t recognize me,” he added, “I’m the leader of the -caravan of white camels that circles the earth and we must be getting -started.” - -“But my mother told me the caravan of white camels didn’t exist!” -exclaimed the youngest camel in surprise. - -“Of course we exist,” said the white leader, and instead of making any -move towards rising he sank farther back into his cushions and gave a -tremendous yawn. “Everything exists somehow, either in the imagination -or really or only at night or simply in the daytime.” His lids sank so -low over his eyes now that the little camel thought the great white -leader had finally fallen asleep. But just at the last moment he jerked -them up again and went on talking. “What was I saying? Oh, yes. Now, -you mustn’t hold us up any longer, for we really have to get started.” - -“Where are we going?” asked the young camel respectfully when he saw -the white leader was making no move to rise. - -“Oh, nowhere in particular,” the old camel answered. “We just go round -and round and try to make you give in to one temptation after another. -It’s not at all amusing for us because we have to go through it so -often. You’re the only one who gets any fun out of it because it’s all -new to you. Only if you give in to a single temptation, that’s the -end. You have to go all the way back to the first night when the camel -drivers tied you out in the desert, and once you’re out there bound up -again you die of fright.” - -The old camel gave such a terrific yawn at this that his servants must -have thought they were being called, for at the sound of it two sleek -white camels with brocaded bands around their shoulders came in through -the door of the tent and kneeled before their leader. - -“Very well,” he said, closing his fan. “Let’s get going.” - -Immediately the two servants rose and slipped their bands under the two -ends of the old camel’s divan and lifted him, cushions and all, and -bore him out of the tent into the light of the softly dawning day. - -“I hate getting up so early,” said the old white camel as he adjusted -the cushions behind his head with one lifted arm. The youngest camel -trotted along beside him and respectfully nodded his head. “Why don’t -you speak frankly to me?” the old camel asked him dreamily. “You were -thinking I wasn’t at all up, weren’t you? You felt like saying that I -was really more down, I’m sure.” - -“Yes,” admitted the little camel. “I was thinking that.” - -As soon as he had said this, he saw that a beautiful pure-white camel -had suddenly appeared behind them and was following close behind the -litter on which the drowsy leader stretched at his ease. His hoofs, -too, were of finest gold and he wore a halter of spun gold. When the -old camel saw the youngest camel staring with admiration at the new -arrival, he said:-- - -“That’s Fourteen Carat. He’s the first always to join the caravan -and that means you’ve passed safely through one temptation.” They -were moving out from under the green trees now onto the desert sands. -“Of course, you were tempted to lie when I asked you what you were -thinking.” - -“Just for politeness’ sake,” said the youngest camel, contritely. - -“Well, most camels do lie when I ask them that, so as not to hurt my -feelings,” the old white leader said. “And then it’s the end of them. -They simply vanish into thin air, like a puff of smoke. Every time you -resist a temptation,” he went on, trying hard not to yawn, “you’ll -notice that another camel joins our caravan.” - - - - -[Illustration] - -_VI_ - - -So, hour after hour as they traveled across the desert, the ordeal of -temptation went on. - -After the temptation to tell a lie for politeness’ sake came the -temptation to rest by reclining on the beautiful litter which camels -brought and set down before him. - -“You might as well take it easy the way I’m doing,” said the old white -camel. “My servants are quite used to carrying people, and if you rest -now you won’t be nearly so tired at the end of the day. We have a long, -long journey before us and--” - -“Oh, no, thank you!” said the youngest camel. “I’m quite used to -walking by this time.” - -And no sooner were the words out of his mouth than he saw a second -white camel spring up behind Fourteen Carat and join the caravan. Then -came the temptation to crunch the bones which were served on platters -within an inch of his nose; and then the temptation to drink from the -copper basins which they carried to him filled with sparkling water -and lemonade, but all this he resisted. Then the white leader reached -indolently up from his litter as they jogged along, and drew down the -weather and showed the little camel that it was actually a fan with two -sides to it. One side was good weather and the other was bad, and he -strongly advised the little camel to accept it as a gift. - -“No,” said the little camel. “Thank you very much, but I think I’d -better not.” - -“You’re very silly if you don’t,” said the old white leader, opening -the fan to show him how nice it was. “Think how useful it would be to -your mother. You could take it to her as a present this evening, and -from then on she could always have exactly the kind of weather she -wanted.” - -The little camel considered seriously for a moment, and the desire to -take it grew stronger and stronger as the white leader went on talking -to him in a slow, dreamy voice. - -“Your mother would never be too cold or too hot ever again,” he was -saying to him. “She wouldn’t have to get drenched by storms any more or -covered with snow on the steppes during the bad season. I can’t imagine -why you hesitate like this.” - -But at last the little camel made a great effort and he set his fuzzy -chin firmly and replied:-- - -“No, thank you, I don’t think I will after all. But thank you just the -same.” - -And as soon as he had said this, another snow-white camel sprang up in -the caravan. - -Next came the temptation to flee before a great wall of fire which -rose suddenly before them, but this too he resisted, and as he passed -through it with his eyes tightly closed he did not even feel its heat; -and then the temptation to cry out with fright and swoon at the sight -of three dead llamas stretched out on the lonely sands; and then the -temptation to sob aloud when the old camel spoke for a long time to -him about his mother, and how hard she had worked all her life, and -how tired she was of carrying the burdens of men. But all these he -resisted, and each time he did so he saw to his joy that another -beautiful white camel joined the growing caravan. - -Then came the temptation of the sun, which the white leader plucked -lazily out of the sky and smashed in pieces like a ripe melon on a -salver which camel servants held before him. - -“You see it’s a pineapple with its skin taken off,” the old camel -remarked dreamily, as if it were of no importance at all. “It has a -wonderful flavor--not like real fruit, of course, because it comes from -heaven.” - -“It looks awfully good,” said the youngest camel, and he felt his mouth -watering. - -“Well, there’s no earthly reason why you shouldn’t have a piece. I’m -going to,” said the old white camel, and he indolently chose the -biggest, juiciest bit and put it in his mouth. The little camel stood -watching him enviously as he chewed, and licked his own parched lips -thirstily. - -“I don’t think I’d better,” he said. “My mother told me it wasn’t true -about the sun being a pineapple, so perhaps there’s something queer -about it.” - -“Oh, mothers have so much on their minds that they can’t remember any -more what things are real and what aren’t,” said the old camel while -the juices dribbled down his chin. “If you just take a piece you’ll see -it’s true enough. It’s very refreshing and much better than anything -you’ve ever tasted before. It’s rather like ice cream, only a great -deal nicer.” - -He selected another ripe, golden piece and conveyed it lazily to his -lips, and the little camel turned his head away. - -“I don’t think my mother would want me to,” he said, and immediately -another white camel joined the procession which was beginning to reach -almost out of sight across the sands. - -Then came the temptation to run like a coward from a flock of vultures -which swarmed about him, the blood still bright on their beaks; and -then the temptation to gather up some of the fine false teeth which -appeared like shells by the dunes, and put them in his pocket for his -mother; and then the temptation to take the way through the grassy, -fertile valley under the shade of trees, as the old leader advised -him to do, instead of stumbling across the barren badlands. All these -and many more temptations he resisted, and now the caravan of white, -golden-hoofed camels stretched far beyond the horizon. - -As they went slowly on, he caught sight of a group of young camels like -himself who were romping and playing together on the edge of an oasis -not far away. He could hear their happy shouts of laughter, and his -sad, weary heart was suddenly made glad. - -“Oh, look!” he cried out, and the old white camel seemed to start from -sleep at the sound of his voice. - -“Eh, what?” he mumbled, leaning up on his cushions and rapidly blinking -his eyes. “What did you say?” - -“Look at those other children over there!” the youngest camel cried out -in excitement. “Do you see them? They seem to be having such a good -time!” - -“Oh, well, run along and join them for a bit,” said the old white -camel, lolling back on his cushions and stifling a yawn. “We can’t stop -long, but we’ll excuse you for a few minutes while you get acquainted.” - -“Oh, thank you, thank you!” cried the little camel, and with a skip and -a jump he was off towards the green oasis where the other young camels -were playing leapfrog in the shade. He felt like a brand-new, happy, -well-fed little camel just from seeing such happiness and such carefree -antics after all the experiences he had been through. - -So as fast as his legs would go he trotted towards them over the sand, -thinking of nothing but how wonderful it would be to play with children -like himself again. But suddenly the wind began to rise, and its -wailing filled his ears. And now he saw a white cloud coming swiftly -across the sky. In another instant, the sand dervishes sprang up in -spirals before him, and whirled and spun wildly in his path. - -“Go back, go back!” whispered one as the wind flung her against him. - -“Turn around, turn around before it’s too late!” murmured another, and -the little camel stopped short in surprise. - -“Go back to the caravan!” another breathed in a hushed voice in his -ear as she threw her sandy arms around his neck. “This is one of the -temptations! Run back to the white leader as quickly as you can!” - -The youngest camel’s knees went weak beneath him as he realized -the terrible thing he had almost done, and now he turned and began -tottering back to the caravan. No sooner had he taken the first step -than the wind’s voice died away and the sand dervishes sank down -motionless about him on the desert. In another moment he was back -beside the litter on which the old white camel lay. - -“Well, you changed your mind in time,” said the leader with a yawn. - -“Yes, I did,” said the little camel in a trembling voice, and although -he could not see it, another snow-white camel took its place at the end -of the caravan miles and miles away. - -“Time’s getting on,” said the old white leader as the litter began to -move forward again. “Nearly all our companions are with us now. After -another few temptations, the circle around the earth will be complete -and then you will join your mother. But, of course, the hardest things -have been saved up till the end.” - -Next came the temptations of salt and tobacco, and the little camel -looked at them with longing eyes. For a moment he could not make up -his mind what to do, because his mother had always told him since his -earliest days that salt and tobacco were so rare and so tasty that -never, under any conditions, must he dream of refusing them. She said -they were part of the daily fare of rajahs and pashas and kings, and if -a poor camel ever had the luck to get near them, he should snatch them -up as quickly as he could. - -“This is just a little pick-me-up to give you the strength to keep on -going until evening,” said the white leader casually, and he held the -nice assortment out under the youngest camel’s sensitively quivering -nose. “They’re something like Turkish delight, only ever so much -better. Anyway, they’re not a real meal in any sense of the word, and -it can’t possibly do any harm if you try a little. Just lick a bit of -the salt to see.” - -But the little camel set his chin firmly and shook his head. - -“Thank you very much, but I think I’d rather not,” he said, and -instantly another white camel with golden hoofs joined the end of the -caravan almost twenty thousand miles away. - -Temptation after temptation followed this, and the little camel bravely -resisted them all. There was the temptation to pick up his harp when -he saw it lying before him on the sand, and the temptation to send a -message to his mother by a bird of paradise who flew down close to him -and said he knew just where she was and that he could take it to her -without any trouble. And then, just as the sun was sinking beyond the -desert’s horizon and the little camel believed he had really come to -the end of his strength at last, he saw something so marvelous just -ahead that he thought he must be dreaming. Yes, it was. No, it couldn’t -possibly be. But still it _was_. Yes, surely, it was. The more he -looked the more convinced he became, and suddenly he jumped straight up -into the air with joy. - -“My mother! I can see my mother over there!” he cried out, and the old -white camel lifted himself lazily on one elbow on his cushions to see. - -“Well, I must say it rather looks like her,” he said, stifling a -yawn. “I wonder what she’s doing wandering about like that alone?” He -sank back on his litter again and picked up his peacock-feather fan. -“Perhaps she’s strayed from her caravan and is wandering around in -despair.” - -“Perhaps she’s looking for me!” cried the little camel in great -excitement, but the white leader only yawned again. She was jogging -along just ahead of them with her moth-eaten tail hanging down behind, -and the youngest camel cried out: “It must be my mother! I know it’s my -mother!” - -“No one ever said it wasn’t,” said the old camel, and this time it -really sounded as if he were falling asleep. “But you can’t possibly -be sure at this distance whether it’s your mother or just a striking -likeness--” - -“But I couldn’t mistake my own mother, could I?” asked the youngest -camel, almost tearfully. “I know the way her elbows look from the back, -and the way her hump humps--” - -“Well, there’s only one way of finding out for certain,” said the white -leader, with his heavy head nodding drowsily. “You’d better skip along -and catch her up.” - -“Oh, would you excuse me for a minute while I do?” asked the little -camel, so excited that he could scarcely wait. - -“Run along,” said the old white camel. “Anything’s better than having -you hemming and hawing like this, but please don’t loiter on the way.” - -The old leader gave a terrific yawn at this and stretched himself out -as if for a long sweet sleep, and without waiting another minute the -youngest camel started off in a gallop across the hot stretches of -sand. Faster and faster he went, stumbling over his own feet, gasping -and choking for breath, and still he seemed to come no nearer to her. - -“Mother!” he cried out. “Mother! Wait, I’m coming.” - -At the sound of his voice, she turned her head over her shoulder and -looked back at him and smiled. - -But just as it seemed he must reach her side at last, a sudden burst of -bright-feathered little birds descended between them and set about his -eyes and ears like a swarm of bees. They were all chattering wildly, -and try as he would he could no longer see to pass them. - -“Oh, let me go! Please let me go,” he pleaded, but his words were -drowned out by the whistling and scolding of the scores and scores of -birds. - -Now that he had stopped, they settled at once on his head and on his -hump, while others flew furiously before his eyes. If he turned in -desperation to the right or to the left, they pursued him, chattering, -while still others swung like tiny sharp-clawed monkeys on his tail. -He spun around, but they were everywhere, increasing in numbers and in -fury with every instant that passed. Finally one single brilliant bird -poised herself before him on the air and spoke these words:-- - -“Listen to us once again. You have lost a great deal of your conceit -since we last met, and you have almost entirely ceased to lie. -Moreover, you have learned to be polite to everyone you meet.” - -“Yes, yes, yes!” trilled all the birds in chorus. - -“You are much braver now, as well,” the single bird’s voice went on, -“and much humbler than you ever were before.” - -“Yes, yes, yes!” cried all the shrill little voices again. - -“So now, go back,” warbled the bird as she dipped and winged before him -on the air. “Go back, go back before the white leader wakes up and -sees.” - -“Yes, yes, yes!” cried all the little birds at once, and suddenly the -youngest camel’s knees began to shake under him as he asked himself if -it was true that this was just one more temptation which had been put -to him. - -“But--but--but I’m sure--I’m sure--I’m sure I saw my mother,” he -protested, and as he said this all the birds rose up from his back and -from his head and from his tail with a great rush of tiny wings. - -“Look, four-footed child!” sang the single bird’s voice to him. “Look -ahead and look well at her. She’s nothing. She’s just a reflection on -the mists of evening. Can’t you see she’s a mirage like the oasis you -followed?” - -“Yes, a mirage, a mirage, a mirage!” trilled the hundreds of birds -around him. - -The youngest camel looked very hard at the figure of his mother jogging -along ahead, and now it seemed to him indeed that there was something -rather hazy and misty about her such as he had never noticed before. -He turned in his tracks, with just enough breath left to call out -his thanks to the birds, and then he made his way back to the caravan -as quickly as he could. His knees were still quaking under him when -he reached the litter’s side, and from there he saw the flock of tiny -bright birds disappear like a sunset cloud into the sky. - -“So here you are after all!” exclaimed the old white camel as he woke -up with a start. “So you came around to my way of thinking in the end?” - -“Yes, I did,” said the little camel, so tired by this time that he -could hardly stand. And as soon as these words had passed his lips, the -last pure-white camel with golden hoofs joined the caravan and the sun -set with a jerk and a thousand torches suddenly sprang alight the whole -length of the magic caravan. He could see the endless line of camels -girdling the earth with the torches carried flaming on their heads and -their gold hoofs shining wondrously across the sand. - -“It’s rather effective, isn’t it?” said the old white leader, looking -rather pleased at the whole display. There were four tall torches lit -about him now, two at his head and two at his feet, and the diamonds in -his ornaments glittered in their light. “This is the part I like the -best of the whole business because it’s so near the end,” he said. - -The old white camel put his peacock-feather fan aside and fumbled in -his cushions for a moment, and then he drew forth the most beautiful -necklace the youngest camel had ever seen. All the beads of it were -of different colors and they were strung together on a solid-silver -string. There was the bright red one, and the clear green one, and -the moonstone, and the diamond, and looking closer he could make out -the tiny lettering which was carved in the center of each one. The -little camel could scarcely believe his eyes, and he stepped closer to -the litter and peered into the brilliance of the torches’ and jewels’ -light. And now he saw that the jade bead had written inside it: “I am -the green valley you long for. You may live in me forever.” And the -topaz had written within it: “I am a silk tent to protect you from -sandstorms and from winter and from the midday sun.” And the ruby came -next, and then the ivory bead, and the amethyst, and the sapphire, and -all the others, exactly like the story he had told his mother. - -“These are magic beads,” the old camel said, holding them up to the -light. “They’re the most valuable possession anyone can possibly have, -because they’re practically impossible. You see, if they belong to you, -then you can always have everything you want.” - -“Oh, yes, I know, I know!” cried the little camel, clapping his hands -together. - -“How could you know about them?” asked the white leader, just managing -to swallow his yawn. “I’m the only person in the world who knows about -them.” - -“Have you ever tried them? Do they work?” asked the youngest camel -eagerly, and the old white camel answered:-- - -“Of course they do.” - -“Well, then, excuse me,” said the little camel, “but why don’t you live -in a green valley forever the way the jade bead says you can do?” - -“Because I prefer to travel on a litter,” said the white leader. “It’s -much more restful and I see more of the world this way, too. There’s -nothing I dread so much as being bored, and I know I’d be awfully bored -lying in a valley without any change of scenery.” - -“Yes, of course,” said the youngest camel, doubtfully, and after a -moment he said: “If you’ll excuse me again, I hope you won’t think -I’m rude, but I should like to know why you don’t press the sapphire -against your forehead for an instant and have all your years drop from -you?” - -“You mean turn myself young again?” asked the big white camel in -amazement. “Do you really imagine I’d like to start way back at the -beginning again and do all the silly things I did over, and not have -people in every country of the world paying me homage, and not be the -leader of the caravan of white camels any more?” He sank back in his -pillows again and gave a weary sigh. “I never heard anything quite so -silly in all my life,” he murmured, lifting one hand to hide his gaping -mouth. “I can’t imagine anything more stupid.” - -“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” said the youngest camel, and he stood -looking with longing eyes at the necklace he had never dreamed could -really be. “But then I should think if you have no more use for the -necklace you wouldn’t mind giving it away, or at least lending it to -people sometimes?” - -“Naturally, as long as I have everything I want, I haven’t the -slightest use for it,” said the old white camel. “But so many people -wanting it makes it very valuable indeed. That’s why it’s kept till -the very end like this. Now that you’ve resisted all the temptations, -you’re allowed to have a choice.” - -He held the necklace up towards the flaming torchlight again, and the -little camel clasped his hands together. - -“Do you mean to say--do you mean I can choose--” he stammered. - -“Now don’t get excited,” said the old leader, with a yawn. “This is the -final test, remember. You are allowed to choose between this string of -magic beads and--” he made a gesture towards a great bulging sack which -servants had just placed on the sand beside his litter--“and this bag,” -he said. “I do hope you’re not going to make a mistake at the last -minute,” he added dreamily. - -“What’s in the bag?” asked the little camel in a cautious voice, and -the old leader answered:-- - -“Ashes. Nothing but ashes.” - -“But I can’t see there’s any choice at all!” the little camel cried -out. “Of course, I’ll take the--” - -“Now, don’t be in too much of a hurry to make up your mind,” said the -old white camel. “Remember greed never got anybody anywhere at all. -Don’t forget that things are never what they seem, and appearances -are frequently deceiving. Keep in mind that there are always a lot of -wolves in sheep’s clothing about, even right here on the desert. If -you’ll take my advice, you’ll consider long and carefully before you--” -The youngest camel stood reflecting deeply while the old white leader -went on: “I’m sure your dear mother must have told you all about fair -faces hiding false hearts, and I’m absolutely certain you don’t want to -act like a greedy little pig just when everything seems to be turning -out so nicely for you.” - -“No,” said the little camel gravely, “but I want the necklace. I don’t -want the sack of ashes. I want the necklace more than anything else in -the world.” - -“Of course,” said the old camel, and in spite of the fact that he was -very much interested in the conversation, his lids kept slipping down -over his eyes. “Naturally, we all want what isn’t good for us. But that -doesn’t mean you’re going to be a silly, piggish little camel and--” - -“Please,” said the youngest camel in a small but firm voice. “I choose -the necklace. That’s what I want.” - -“Well, I must say that’s very unkind of you,” said the old white -leader, and he tossed it around the little camel’s neck with rather -a nasty jerk. “No one’s ever chosen the necklace before and so I was -always able to keep it. Everyone’s _always_ chosen the bag of ashes -because it was the politest and nicest thing to do.” - -The youngest camel now fell down on his knees and thanked the ancient -leader for all the kindness he had shown him, and as soon as he had -paid him enough homage to restore him to a good humor, he turned the -necklace around and around his neck until he came to the bead which was -shaped like a heart and red as a cherry and he read the inscription -inside:-- - - Oh, heart, on music let me ride - This instant to my mother’s side. - -But first he slipped the magic opal under his tongue, so that by the -time he reached his mother and was clasped in her arms, all the lies he -had ever told her had been transformed to truth. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNGEST CAMEL *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |