o out into the world, for here there
is nothing to eat; we are dying of hunger. I want to see whether I can
make my fortune." "Go," said the other. "If you make your fortune,
return, and I will go and see if I can make mine." So the humpback set
off on his journey. Now these two humpbacks were from Parma. When the
humpback had gone a long way, he came to a square where there was a
fair, at which everything was sold. There was a person selling cheese,
who cried out: "Eat the little Parmesan!" The poor humpback thought he
meant him, so he ran away and hid himself in a court-yard. When it was
one o'clock, he heard a clanking of chains and the words "Saturday and
Sunday" repeated several times. Then he answered: "And Monday." "Oh,
heavens!" said they who were singing. "Who is this who has harmonized
with our choir?" They searched and found the poor humpback hidden. "O
gentlemen!" he said, "I have not come here to do any harm, you know!"
"Well! we have come to reward you; you have harmonized our choir; come
with us!" They put him on a table and removed his hump, healed him, and
gave him two bags of money. "Now," they said, "you can go." He thanked
them and went away without his hump. He liked it better, you can
believe! He returned to his place at Parma, and when the other humpback
saw him he exclaimed: "Does not that look just like my friend? But he
had a hump! It is not he! Listen! You are not my friend so and so, are
you?" "Yes, I am," he replied. "Listen! Were you not a humpback?" "Yes.
They have removed my hump and given me two bags of money. I will tell
you why. I reached," he continued, "such and such a place, and I heard
them beginning to say, '_Eat the little Parmesan! eat the little
Parmesan!_' I was so frightened that I hid myself." (He mentioned the
place--in a court-yard.) "At a certain hour, I heard a noise of chains
and a chorus singing: '_Saturday and Sunday._' After two or three times,
I said: '_And Monday._' They came and found me, saying that I had
harmonized their chorus, and they wanted to reward me. They took me,
removed my hump, and gave me two bags of money." "Oh, heavens!" said the
other humpback. "I want to go there, too!" "Go, poor fellow, go!
farewell!" The humpback reached the place, and hid himself precisely
where his companion had. After a while he heard a noise of chains, and
the chorus: "Saturday and Sunday!" Then another chorus: "And Monday!"
After the humpback had heard them repeat: "Saturday