The Prince’s

"That is true," replied the prince, "and if I had not seen and handled this

gold, perhaps I might not find its merits so hard to understand; but I

possess it in abundance, and it does not feed me, nor make music for me,

nor fan me when the sun is hot, nor cause me to sleep when I am weary;

therefore when my slaves have told me how merchants go out and brave

the perilous wind and sea, and live in the unstable ships, and run risks

from shipwreck and pirates, and when, having asked them why they have

done this, they have answered, 'For gold,' I have found it hard to believe

them; and when they have told me how men have lied, and robbed, and

deceived; how they have murdered one another, and leagued together to

depose kings, to oppress provinces, and all for gold; then I have said to

myself, either my slaves have combined to make me believe that which is

not, or this gold must be very different from the yellow stuff that this coin

is made of, this coin which is of no use but to have a hole pierced through

it and hang to my girdle, that it may tinkle when I walk."

"Notwithstanding this," said the old man, "nothing can be done without

gold; for it is better than bread, and fruit, and music, for it can buy them

all, since all men love it, and have agreed to exchange it for whatever

they may need."

"How so?" asked the prince.

"If a man has many loaves he cannot eat them all," answered the old

man; "therefore he goes to his neighbor and says, 'I have bread and thou

hast a coin of gold--let us exchange;' so he receives the gold and goes to

another man, saying, 'Thou hast two houses and I have none; lend me

one of thy houses to live in, and I will give thee my gold;' thus again they

exchange."

"It is well," said the prince; "but in time of drought, if there is no bread in

a city, can they make it of gold?"

"Not so," answered the old man, "but they must send their gold to a city

where there is food, and bring that back instead of it."

"But if there was a famine all over the world," asked the prince, "what

would they do then?"

"Why, then, and only then," said the old man, "they must starve, and the

gold would be nought, for it can only be changed for that which _is_; it

cannot make that which is not."

"And where do they get gold?" asked the prince. "Is it the precious fruit of

some rare tree, or have they whereby they can draw it down from the sky

at sunset?"

"Some of it," said the old man, "they dig out of the ground."

Then he told the prince of ancient rivers running through terrible deserts,

whose sands glitter with golden grains and are yellow in the fierce heat of

the sun, and of dreary mines where the Indian slaves work in gangs tied

together, never seeing the light of day; and lastly (for he was a man of

much knowledge, and had travelled far), he told him of the valley of the

Sacramento in the New World, and of those mountains where the people

of Europe send their criminals, and where now their free men pour forth

to gather gold, and dig for it as hard as if for life; sitting up by it at night

lest any should take it from them, giving up houses and country, and wife

and children, for the sake of a few feet of mud, whence they dig clay that

glitters as they wash it; and how they sift it and rock it as patiently as if it

were their own children in the cradle, and afterward carry it in their

bosoms, and forego on account of it safety and rest.

"But, prince," he went on, seeing that the young man was absorbed in his

narrative, "if you would pass your word to me never to betray me, I

would procure for you a sight of the external world, and in a trance you

should see those places where gold is dug, and traverse those regions

forbidden to your mortal footsteps."

Upon this, the prince threw himself at the old man's feet, and promised

heartily to observe the secrecy required, and entreated that, for however

short a time, he might be suffered to see this wonderful world. Then, if we may credit the story, the old man drew nearer to the chafingdish which stood between them, and having fanned the dying embers in

it, cast upon them a certain powder and some herbs, from whence as

they burnt a peculiar smoke arose. As their vapors spread, he desired the

prince to draw near and inhale them, and then (says the fable) assured

him that when he should sleep he would find himself, in his dream, at

whatever place he might desire, with this strange advantage, that he

should see things in their truth and reality as well as in their outward

shows.