the city asked: "Who
is dead in the camp?" The others replied: "No one is dead in the camp;
who has died in the city?" Those who were coming from the city, said:
"No one has died in the city." The others said: "For whom then are ye
wailing and lamenting?" At length they perceived that all this tumult
arose from their trusting the words of children.

This last belongs rather to the class of simpleton-stories; and in the
following, from the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles' _Folk Tales of Kashmir_
(Truebner: 1888), we have a variant of the well-known tale of the twelve
men of Gotham who went one day to fish, and, before returning home,
miscounted their number, of which several analogues are given in my
_Book of Noodles_, pp. 28 ff. (Elliot Stock: 1888): Ten peasants were
standing on the side of the road weeping. They thought that one of their
number had been lost on the way, as each man had counted the company,
and found them nine only. "Ho! you--what's the matter?" shouted a
townsman passing by. "O sir," said the peasants, "we were ten men when
we left the village, but now we are only nine." The townsman saw at a
glance what fools they were: each of them had omitted to count himself
in the number. He therefore told them to take off their _topis_
(skull-caps) and place them on the ground. This they did, and counted
ten of them, whereupon they concluded they were all there, and were
comforted. But they could not tell how it was.

* * * * *

That wakefulness is not necessarily watchfulness may seem paradoxical,
yet here is a Persian story which goes far to show that they are not
always synonymous terms: Once upon a time (to commence in the good old
way) there came into a city a merchant on horseback, attended by his
servant on foot. Hearing that the city was infested by many bold and
expert thieves, in consequence of which property was very insecure, he
said to his servant at night: "I will keep watch, and do you sleep; for
I cannot trust you to keep awake, and I much fear that my horse may be
stolen." But to this arrangement his faithful servant would not consent,
and he insisted upon watching all night. So the master went to sleep,
and three hours after awoke, when he called to his servant: "What are
you doing?" He answered: "I am meditating how Allah has spread the earth
upon the water." The master said: "I am afraid lest thieves come, and
you know nothing of it." "O my lord, be satisfied; I am on