stones in their dwellings, and in the ways and passages leading
underground, and in the places where they had their large halls, and
their dances and their feasts, where they sparkled so as to make it
eternal day.

When John had finished breakfast, his servant opened a little door in
the wall, where was a closet with the most beautiful silver and gold
cups and dishes and other vessels and baskets filled with ducats and
boxes of jewels and precious stones. There were also charming pictures,
and the most delightful books he had seen in the whole course of his
life.

John spent the morning looking at these things, and when it was midday a
bell rang, and his servant said--

"Will you dine alone, sir, or with the large company?"

"With the large company, to be sure," replied John. So his servant led
him out. John, however, saw nothing but solitary halls lighted up with
precious stones, and here and there little men and women, who appeared
to him to glide in and out of the clefts and fissures of the rocks.
Wondering what it was the bells rang for, he said to his servant--

"But where is the company?"

Scarcely had he spoken when the hall they were in opened out to a great
extent, and a canopy set with diamonds and precious stones was drawn
over it. At the same moment he saw an immense throng of nicely dressed
little men and women pouring in through several open doors. The floor
opened in several places, and tables, covered with the most beautiful