u to do,
and if you are wise, and keep a still tongue in your head, I will pay
you as never a porter was paid before."

You may depend upon it the young man needed no second bidding to such a
matter. Up he rose, and took his basket, and followed the old man, who
led the way up one street and down another, until at last they came to a
rickety, ramshackle house in a part of the town the young man had never
been before. Here the old man stopped and knocked at the door, which
was instantly opened, as though of itself, and then he entered with
the young spendthrift at his heels. The two passed through a dark
passage-way, and another door, and then, lo and behold! all was changed;
for they had come suddenly into such a place as the young man would not
have believed could be in such a house, had he not seen it with his own
eyes. Thousands of waxen tapers lit the place as bright as day--a great
oval room, floored with mosaic of a thousand bright colors and strange
figures, and hung with tapestries of silks and satins and gold and
silver. The ceiling was painted to represent the sky, through which flew
beautiful birds and winged figures so life-like that no one could tell
that they were only painted, and not real. At the farther side of the
room were two richly cushioned couches, and thither the old man led the
way with the young spendthrift following, wonder-struck, and there the
two sat themselves down. Then the old man smote his hands together, and,
in answer, ten young men and ten beautiful girls entered bearing a feast
of rare fruits and wines which they spread before them, and the young
man, who had been fasting since morning, fell to and ate as he had not
eaten for many a day.

The old man, who himself ate but little, waited patiently for the other
to end. "Now," said he, as soon as the young man could eat no more, "you
have feasted and you have drunk; it is time for us to work."

Thereupon he rose from the couch and led the way, the young man
following, through an arch door-way into a garden, in the centre of
which was an open space paved with white marble, and in the centre of
that again a carpet, ragged and worn, spread out upon the smooth stones.
Without saying a word, the old man seated himself upon one end of this
carpet, and motioned to the spendthrift to seat himself with his basket
at the other end; then--

"Are you ready?" said the old man.

"Yes," said the young man, "I am."

"Then, by the horn of Jacob,