Page:Tolstoy - Tales from Tolstoi.djvu/294



upon a time some children found, in a cleft in the earth, a small substance like an egg, with a slit down the middle of it like a grain of corn. A passer-by, who saw the children playing with it, bought it of them for a pyatak (1¼d.), took it to town, and sold it to the King as a curiosity.

The King called together his wise men, and bade them tell him what manner of thing it was. Was it a grain of corn or a hen's egg? The wise men pondered and pondered, but they could give no answer to the King's question.

There, upon the window-sill, lay the strange substance, and lo! a bird flew down upon it and fell to pecking at it, and she pecked a large hole right into it, wherupon all men marvelled, for they saw that it was a grain of corn. Then the wise men drew nigh again, and they said to the King, "The thing is a grain—of rye."

The King was astonished. He bade the wise men tell him where and when this manner of grain grew. The wise men pondered and pondered. They searched their books and found—nothing. Then they came back to the King and said: "Oh, King! we can give thee no answer. There is nothing written about this thing in our books. We must ask 244