"Faith, I'd like to go inside! I'm tired of being in the condition I'm in, and should not be sorry to be something else."
As he went towards one of the porticos, he noticed a beggar seated near it on a stone and laughing.
"You are laughing at me, old fellow," said the young wayfarer; "but I give you back your laugh; for you must be a fool to remain in rags at the door of a palace where you have only to wish for a new coat to be dressed like a prince. Perhaps you don't know how to read?"
"Oh, yes!--I know how to read--even writing in rubies," replied the old man.
"Well, then, have you nothing to desire, that you do not enter this palace?"
"Truly, yes. I desire more things than one; but not any such as they give away here."
The old man had such an air of cunning as he said this, that the young man mistrusted him.
"He is laying some kind of trap for me," he thought, and was about passing on his way.
"Don't be afraid; no harm will come to you in this palace," the old man went on. "Troubles exist there only for those who ask for them: take my word for it, you may go in fearlessly."
"Certainly you may," replied the beggar, "if you find nothing there you wish for."
The young man hesitated. He saw a number of people pass along the road, and not one of them seemed to have an idea of entering this palace. That struck him as being suspicious, and he took alarm.
"Is this palace shunned by travellers? How comes it that not one enters it?"
"It is because they have heard about it; they know that people are bored there, and, in his home, everybody likes to amuse himself." Seeing that the young man was curious to visit this monument, the old beggar said to him: "I'll tell you what I'll do; if you'll give me the price of a bottle of good wine, I'll sacrifice myself and go in with you--and we'll laugh together at the imbeciles who live there."
He gave the old beggar a piece of money, and they went up to the door. It was made of crystal, and afforded a view of the interior and of the bell which had to be rung to obtain admission.
On examining it carefully, the young traveller observed that this bell was made of gold, and had for its clapper a fine pear-shaped pearl, of such beauty that it dazzled his sight.