Someone told him that he ought to consult the moon, for the moon
travelled far, and might be able to tell him something. So he went away,
away, away, and ended, somehow or other, by reaching the land of the
moon. There he found a little old woman who said to him ‘What are you
doing here? My son eats all living things he sees, and if you are wise,
you will go away without coming any further.’ But the young man told her
all his sad tale, and how he possessed a wonderful snuff-box, and how it
had been stolen from him, and how he had nothing left, now that he was
parted from his wife and was in need of everything. And he said that
perhaps her son, who travelled so far, might have seen a palace with
laths of gold and tiles of diamond, and furnished all in silver and
gold. As he spoke these last words, the moon came in and said he smelt
mortal flesh and blood. But his mother told him that it was an unhappy
man who had lost everything, and had come all this way to consult him,
and bade the young man not to be afraid, but to come forward and show
himself. So he went boldly up to the moon, and asked if by any accident
he had seen a palace with the laths of gold and the tiles of diamond,
and all the furniture of silver and gold. Once this house belonged
to him, but now it was stolen. And the moon said no, but that the sun
travelled farther than he did, and that the young man had better go and
ask him.
So the young man departed, and went away, away, away, as well as his
horse would take him, begging his living as he rode along, and, somehow
or other, at last he got to the land of the sun. There he found a little
old woman, who asked him, ‘What are you doing here? Go away. Have you
not heard that my son feeds upon Christians?’ But he said no, and that
he would not go, for he was so miserable that it was all one to him
whether he died or not; that he had lost everything, and especially a
splendid palace like none other in the whole world, for it had laths of
gold and tiles of diamond, and all the furniture was of silver and gold.
And that he had sought it far and long, and in all the earth there was
no man more unhappy. So the old woman’s heart melted, and she agreed to
hide him.
When the Sun arrived, he declared that he smelt Christian flesh, and he
meant to have it for his dinner. But his mother told him such a pitiful
story of the miserable wretch who had lost everything, and had come from
far to ask his help, that at last he promised to see him.
So the young man came out from his hiding-place and begged the sun to
tell him if in the course of his travels he had not seen somewhere a
palace that had not its like in the whole world, for its laths were of
gold and its tiles of diamond, and all the furniture in silver and gold.
And the sun said no, but that perhaps the wind had seen it, for he
entered everywhere, and saw things that no one else ever saw, and if
anyone knew where it was, it was certainly the wind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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