sought to carry to Bagdad to sell in the bazaar. That no one might suspect we carried such treasures, we loaded our camel with wheat and honey. In the wheat we hid our bag of jewels.

FIRST MERCHANT. We rested at midday under some palms by a well, and being very tired, fell asleep. When we awoke, our camel was gone. Thinking it had wandered into the desert we sought it diligently. In the desert we met this dervish. He at once informed us that we had lost a camel! He also

SECOND MERCHANT. Yes, and he described our camel exactly. He told of his blind eye, his lame leg, and his missing tooth!

FIRST MERCHANT. He even told us that the camel was loaded with wheat and honey.

SECOND MERCHANT. And now, O Judge, have we not proved that he is the thief?

JUDGE. You certainly have shown that the dervish knows a great deal about your missing camel. Dervish, either confess that you have stolen the camel and restore it and its load to the owners at once, or explain how you know so much about the

matter.

DERVISH. O learned Judge, I can easily prove that I know no more about the lost camel than any one might know by going through the desert with his eyes open. As I walked along I saw some footprints in the sand. These I knew at once were camel's tracks. As no human footmarks were seen, I knew the animal had strayed away.

JUDGE. But how did you know he was blind in one eye?

DERVISH. As the grass was cropped only on the left side of the tracks, I judged that he was blind in the right eye.

JUDGE. But you said he was lame in one leg.

DERVISH. Yes, I thought he might be, because I noticed that the mark he left in the sand with one foot was fainter than the other tracks.

JUDGE. But how could you know he had lost a tooth?

DERVISH. I looked carefully at the places he had grazed, and found everywhere a little tuft of grass, uncropped, in the very middle of every bite. This led me to believe he had lost a front tooth.

JUDGE. Very good. You have proved that you are innocent. You

FIRST MERCHANT. Wait, wait, good Judge! There is something more to explain! How did the dervish know what load the camel carried?

DERVISH. That is easily explained. The ants, busy carrying grains of wheat from one side of the tracks, and the flies gathering on the other side, told me that the load was wheat and honey.

JUDGE. You are not guilty, dervish. You may go. As for you merchants, if you will follow the tracks of your camel, and use your eyes as carefully as has this good dervish, I think you will soon find him.

NOTES

1. Dervish. A Mohammedan priest or monk who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere religious life.

2. Merchant. One who not only sold goods, but who shipped goods on camels from one part of the desert to the other.

3. Bagdad. Locate this country on the map in your geography. 4. Look up the following words: desert, jewels, treasure, prisoner, bazaar, diligently, cropped, punished, fainter, restore.

EXERCISES

1. What characters appear in this selection?

2. What is a dervish?

3. What was the first inference drawn by the dervish? What other inferences in turn were drawn by him?

4. What effect did his explanation have on the merchants?

5. What did they think when the dervish said he had never seen the camel?

6. What led the merchants to think that the dervish was a robber? 7. For what purpose did they drag him before the judge?

8. What story did the two merchants tell?

9. What addition to the story was then given by the first merchant? 10. What did the merchants feel they had proven by their stories? 11. What effect did these stories have upon the judge?

12. What did the judge then tell the dervish to do in defense?

13. From the dervish's speech, tell each fact observed, and what inference the dervish drew from it.

14. What was the verdict of the judge?

15. What advice did the judge give to the merchants?

16. What lesson in observation may we learn from this story?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

CONAN DOYLE: Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet.

FORD: Great K. and A. Train Robbery.

LOWELL: Yussouf.

SAXE: The Blind Men and the Elephant.

THE TREE

To bear fruit is the one great work of the

fruit tree. Late frosts may destroy the

blossoms of the apple, the peach, and the cherry. Heavy winds may blow the fruit from the branches before it is ripe. In every case the tree has failed to complete its great work.

The poet has here given us a poem in which he interprets the anxiety of the tree to bear fruit. The Tree asks the threatening Frost to leave its buds alone, until the sweet blossoms have grown. It asks the sighing Wind to let the sweet blossoms grow, until the berries have developed. When the fruit is ripe in midsummer, it gladly says to the girl who picks the ripe berries, "all are for thee." The Tree has worked It is glad to give its

out the purpose of its life.

ripened fruit to those who can enjoy it.

THE TREE

The Tree's early leaf buds were bursting their brown;

"Shall I take them away?" said the Frost, sweeping

down.

Prayed the Tree, while he trembled from rootlet to crown.

The Tree bore his blossoms, and all the birds sung; "Shall I take them away?" said the Wind, as he

Said the Tree, while his leaflets quivering hung.

The Tree bore his fruit in the midsummer glow; Said the girl, "May I gather thy berries now?" "Yes, all thou canst see:

Take them; all are for thee,"

Said the Tree, while he bent down his laden boughs low.

Björnstjerne Björnson.

NOTES

1. Björnstjerne Björnson. One of the greatest of Scandinavian poets. His sweet poetry has beautified life, not only among his own people, but it has been translated into our own language. He was a great lover of nature, and this poem is worthy to take a place with "Woodman, Spare That Tree!" in our annual observance of Arbor Day.

2. Look up the meanings of the following words and expressions: trusting, sweeping, rootlet, leaflets, quivering, laden, boughs, bursting their brown, midsummer glow.

EXERCISES

1. At what stage in the growth of the tree did the Frost come?

2. What were the questions the Frost asked?