alm-leaf shawl when she dances! Eh, children?"

"When will you take us back to our father?" inquired the girl,
sorrowfully.

"Why, at once, of course. As soon as Thomar has become a famous man;
as soon as half the world recognizes him as a valiant bey, and the
fame of him spreads to the huts of Himri likewise. Then will Thomar go
with you to your father. He will sit on a proudly prancing horse,
tossing its head impatiently beneath its gold trappings. A grand
retinue will come riding behind him--valiant heroes, all of them, with
glittering shields and lances. And after them will follow a litter on
two white asses, with curtains of cloth of gold, and in this litter
will sit a wondrously bright and beautiful maiden, and men will stand
at all the gates and cry, 'Make way for the valiant lord and the
majestic lady!'

"But, meanwhile, old Kasi Mollah will be sitting at his door, and,
perceiving the splendid magnates, will do obeisance to them; then you
will leap from your horse, assist Milieva to descend from her litter,
and will go to meet him. He, however, will not recognize you. Milieva
will be so much rosier, and her figure so much more lovely; and as for
you, you will be wearing a beard and mustache, and without doubt you
will be scarred with wounds received upon the field of glory. So Kasi
Mollah will conduct you into his house with the utmost respect and
make you sit down; but you will have victuals and sherbet brought from
your carriages, and will constrain him to eat and drink with you. Then
you will fall a-talking, and you will ask him whether he has any
children, and thereupon the tears will start to his eyes."

"Oh," sighed the girl, melting at the thought.

"No, no; it would not do at all to make yourself known all at once.
The joy would be too much for him; he might even have a stroke. You,
little Milieva, would be content to sit and listen, leaving Thomar to
speak. And Thomar will say that he has heard tidings of Kasi Mollah's
lost children, gradually leading him on from hope to joy, and at last
you will throw yourselves on his neck, and say to him, 'I am thy son
Thomar! I am thy daughter Milieva!' How beautiful that will be!"

The heads of the children were completely turned by this conversation,
and they followed the merchant joyfully all the way to the next
village. There Leonidas Argyrocantharides rested for a little while,
and made the children dismount and have some lunch in a hut. Then he
produced