nor too sour, and very strong.

While he was swallowing the last drops from the bowl, the Guinea-pigs
burned some Arabic incense, the blue smoke of which swept through the
room. Thicker and thicker became these clouds, till they filled the
room from floor to ceiling. The odor of the incense had a magical
effect on the boy; for, cry as often as he would that he must go back
to his mother, at every attempt to rouse himself he sank back sleepily,
and finally fell fast asleep on the old woman's divan. He dreamed
strange dreams. It seemed to him that the old woman was pulling off
his clothes, and giving him in their place the skin of a squirrel.
Now he could leap and climb like a squirrel; he associated with the
other squirrels and with the Guinea-pigs, all of whom were very nice
well-bred people, and in common with them, thought himself in the
service of the old woman. At first his duties were those of a
shoe-black--that is, he had to put oil on the cocoanuts that served the
old woman for slippers, and rub them until they shone brightly.
However, as he had often done similar work at home, he was quite
skillful at it. After the first year--as it seemed to him in his
dream--he was given more genteel employment; with other squirrels, he
was occupied in catching floating particles of dust, and when they had
accumulated enough of these particles, they rubbed them through the
finest hair sieve, for the old woman considered these dust atoms to be
something superb, and as she had lost her teeth, she had her bread made
of them. After another year's service, he thought, he was placed in the
ranks of those whose duty it was to provide the old woman with
drinking-water. You must not suppose that she had had a cistern sunk,
or placed a barrel in the yard to catch rain-water for this purpose;
no, there was much more refinement displayed; the squirrels--and Jacob
among them--had to collect the dew of the roses in hazelnut shells
for the old woman's drink. And as she was a very thirsty body, the
water-carriers had a hard time of it. In the course of another year he
was given some inside work, such as the position of floor-cleaner; and
as the floor was of glass, on which even a breath would gather, he had
no easy task. They had to sweep it, and were required to do their feet
up in old cloths, and in that condition step around the room. In the
fourth year he was employed in the kitchen. This was a position of
honor that could be attained onl