Story-tellers are in great favour among the people, and a good _raconteur_ may be sure of an attentive audience. The bazar story-teller takes up his stand in a busy thoroughfare, and begins telling his story. In a short time he is surrounded by a large crowd, eagerly drinking in the various episodes related, while people riding or walking past have difficulty in squeezing their way through the crowd, if they themselves do not stop to swell it; but nothing is said or done by the passers-by to disturb the story-teller in his recital of the adventures of the prince or princess among the various jinn, fairies, or “deoo” (demons) of old time. Story-tellers are also attached to the retinues of the Amir and the princes, and others of high standing. All their attendants and officials are story-tellers in a way; but those mentioned are special men, whose chief duty it is to tell stories to their masters while the latter lie on their beds at night and listen until they fall asleep. In Kabul, when a guest is invited to dinner, the invitation means that he is expected to stop the night in the house of his host, and on these occasions, when the dinner has been despatched, the guests gather round the host, squatting or lying on carpets while they smoke the chillum, and each one takes his turn at telling a story. The interest in the stories related is so great that they often sit listening to one another far into the night, and are unfit for work the following day. Boys and children amuse themselves in much the same way as English children. The chief game among boys is “toop bazee,” which is played with a flat piece of wood and a ball, and is very much like rounders. They also go in for wrestling, and fencing with sticks, and throwing arrows with a piece of string, at which they are rather expert. Some of the elder boys shoot sparrows and small birds with clay pellets from a long blow-pipe, and in order to get the birds at close range the boy takes his stand beneath a tree and uses a call which imitates a number of sparrows chirruping and fighting together, and this induces the sparrows to come and investigate the cause of trouble, when they offer a good target from below. Smaller children play with balls, knuckle bones, marbles, and walnuts. The walnuts are used as in a game of marbles, and any knocked out of the ring, in which each player places a certain number, are the property of the player who knocks them out.