Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year | Page 4

such abundance seemed as by some malicious magic to have vanished utterly. Although his 30 wife and children loved him as before--although his farm, his orchards, his flocks and herds, were as real and prosperous as they had ever been--yet the last words of the priest, which kept ringing in his ears, turned his content into vague longings and blinded him to all that had hitherto made him happy.
Before dawn next morning the farmer, full of his purpose, 5 was astir. Rousing the priest, he eagerly inquired if he could direct him to a mine of diamonds.
"A mine of diamonds!" echoed the astonished priest. "What do you, who already have so much to be grateful for, want with diamonds?" 10
"I wish to be rich and place my children on thrones."
"All you have to do, then," said the Buddhist, "is to go and search until you find them."
"But where shall I go?" questioned the infatuated man.
"Go anywhere," was the vague reply; "north, south, 15 east, or west--anywhere."
"But how shall I know the place?" asked the farmer.
"When you find a river running over white sands between high mountain ranges, in these white sands you will find diamonds. There are many such rivers and many mines 20 of diamonds waiting to be discovered. All you have to do is start out and go somewhere--" and he waved his hand--"away, away!"
Ali Hafed's mind was fully made up. "I will no longer," he thought, "remain on a wretched farm, toiling day in and 25 day out for a mere subsistence, when acres of diamonds--untold wealth--may be had by him who is bold enough to seek them."
He sold his farm for less than half its value. Then, after putting his young family under the care of a neighbor, 30 he set out on his quest--a quest that was to cover many years and lands.
With high hopes and the coveted diamond mines beckoning in the far distance, Ali Hafed began his wanderings. During the first few weeks his spirits did not flag, nor did his feet grow weary. On and on he tramped, until he came to the Mountains of the Moon, beyond the bounds 5 of Arabia. Weeks stretched into months, and the wanderer often looked regretfully in the direction of his once-happy home. Still no gleam of waters glinting over white sands greeted his eyes. But on he went, into Egypt, through Palestine and other eastern lands, always looking 10 for the treasure he still hoped to find.
At last, after years of fruitless search, during which he had wandered north and south, east and west, hope left him. All his money was spent. He was starving and almost naked, and the diamonds--which had lured him 15 away from all that made life dear--where were they? Poor Ali Hafed never knew. He died by the wayside, never dreaming that the wealth for which he had sacrificed happiness and life might have been his had he remained at home. 20
* * * * *
"Here is a diamond! here is a diamond! Has Ali Hafed returned?" shouted an excited voice.
The speaker, no other than our old acquaintance, the Buddhist priest, was standing in the same room where years before he had told poor Ali Hafed how the world was 25 made and where diamonds were to be found.
"No, Ali Hafed has not returned," quietly answered his successor. "Neither is that which you hold in your hand a diamond. It is but a pretty black pebble I picked up in my garden." 30
"I tell you," said the priest excitedly, "this is a genuine diamond. I know one when I see it. Tell me how and where you found it."
"One day," replied the farmer slowly, "having led my camel into the garden to drink, I noticed, as he put his nose into the water, a sparkle of light coming from the 5 white sand at the bottom of the clear stream. Stooping down, I picked up the black pebble you now hold, guided to it by that crystal eye in the center, from which the light flashes so brilliantly."
"Why, thou simple one," cried the priest, "this is no 10 common stone, but a gem of the purest water. Come, show me where thou didst find it."
Together they fled to the spot where the farmer had found the "pebble," and turning over the white sands with eager fingers, they found, to their great delight, other 15 stones even more valuable and beautiful than the first. Then they extended their search, and, so the Oriental story goes, "every shovelful of the old farm, as acre after acre was sifted over, revealed gems with which to decorate the crowns of emperors and moguls." 20
--Stories from Life.
1. What is a legend? Distinguish between "legend" and "story." In what country is the scene of this