to be in request throughout
the whole kingdom; and in progress of time other nations and provinces
of the East fell into the use of it."

The French have preserved the following picturesque version of this
legend:

A young goatherd named Kaldi noticed one day that his goats, whose
deportment up to that time had been irreproachable, were abandoning
themselves to the most extravagant prancings. The venerable buck,
ordinarily so dignified and solemn, bounded about like a young kid.
Kaldi attributed this foolish gaiety to certain fruits of which the
goats had been eating with delight.

The story goes that the poor fellow had a heavy heart; and in the
hope of cheering himself up a little, he thought he would pick and
eat of the fruit. The experiment succeeded marvelously. He forgot
his troubles and became the happiest herder in happy Arabia. When
the goats danced, he gaily made himself one of the party, and
entered into their fun with admirable spirit.

One day, a monk chanced to pass by and stopped in surprise to find
a ball going on. A score of goats were executing lively pirouettes
like a ladies' chain, while the buck solemnly _balance-ed_, and the
herder went through the figures of an eccentric pastoral dance.

The astonished monk inquired the cause of this saltatorial madness;
and Kaldi told him of his precious discovery.

Now, this poor monk had a great sorrow; he always went to sleep in
the middle of his prayers; and he reasoned that Mohammed without
doubt was revealing this marvelous fruit to him to overcome his
sleepiness.

[Illustration: ARAB DRINKING COFFEE; CHINAMAN, TEA; AND INDIAN,
CHOCOLATE

Frontispiece from Dufour's work]

Piety does not exclude gastronomic instincts. Those of our good
monk were more than ordinary; because he thought of drying and
boiling the fruit of the herder. This ingenious concoction gave us
coffee. Immediately all the monks of the realm made use of the
drink, because it encouraged them to pray and, perhaps, also
because it was not disagreeable.

In those early days it appears that the drink was prepared in two ways;
one in which the decoction was made from the hull and the pulp
surrounding the bean, and the other from the bean itself. The roasting
process came later and is an improvement generally credited to the
Persians. There is evi