Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/16



NCE upon a time there were two friends who set out together to seek their fortunes. The one was a maker of ghosts and the other a maker of shadows; and all the luggage that they took with them consisted of their trade samples done up in brown paper parcels.

They wore woolly breeches made from thistle-down and wild cotton, reaching from waist to knee, where they were tied with plaited grass; they had woolly coats fastened with small leather thongs down the front, and their thick belts of plaited grass held a number of very useful tools. Their heads were covered with caps having three points orna- mented with coloured tassels.

“Well, where shall we go first?” asked the maker of ghosts thoughtfully.

“Oh! I don’t know that it matters,” said the maker of shadows, “as long as we go forward; but look, yonder is a signpost; let us see whither it points.”

So they went up to it and read thereon:



“The very country we want!” exclaimed the maker of ghosts; and the other agreeing, they set out briskly without further hesitation.

Now, strange as it may seem, this country is not very easy to reach, nor is it peopled with many inhabitants; but the travellers were