hung a great lamp that shone with a bright light
and lit up all the place as bright as day. In the floor were set three
great basins of marble: one was nearly full of silver, one of gold, and
one of gems of all sorts.

"All this is mine," said the old man, "and after I am gone it shall be
yours. It was left to me as I will leave it to you, and in the meantime
you may come and go as you choose and fill your pockets whenever you
wish to. But there is one thing you must not do: you must never open
that door yonder at the back of the room. Should you do so, Ill-Luck
will be sure to overtake you."

Oh no! The Fiddler would never think of doing such a thing as opening
the door. The silver and gold and jewels were enough for him. But since
the old man had given him leave, he would just help himself to a few of
the fine things. So he stuffed his pockets full, and then he followed
the old man up the steps and out into the sunlight again.

It took him maybe an hour to count all the money and jewels he had
brought up with him. After he had done that, he began to wonder what was
inside of the little door at the back of the room. First he wondered;
then he began to grow curious; then he began to itch and tingle and burn
as though fifty thousand I-want-to-know nettles were sticking into him
from top to toe. At last he could stand it no longer. "I'll just go down
yonder," says he, "and peep through the key-hole; perhaps I can see what
is there without opening the door."

So down he took the key, and off he marched to the garden. He opened the
trap-door, and went down the steep steps to the room below. There was
the door at the end of the room, but when he came to look there was no
key-hole to it. "Pshaw!" said he, "here is a pretty state of affairs.
Tut! tut! tut! Well, since I have come so far, it would be a pity to
turn back without seeing more." So he opened the door and peeped in.

"Pooh!" said the Fiddler, "There's nothing there, after all," and he
opened the door wide.

Before him was a great long passageway, and at the far end of it he
could see a spark of light as though the sun were shining there. He
listened, and after a while he heard a sound like the waves beating on
the shore. "Well," says he, "this is the most curious thing I have seen
for a long time. Since I have come so far, I may as well see the end of
it." So he entered the passageway, and closed the door behind him. He
went on and on, and the spark of light