across the plain and through the streets of their city of booths.
They were the prettiest, daintiest folk ever eyes looked upon,
well-formed and like to us as could be in the main, but slender and
willowy, so dainty and light, both the men and the women, so pretty of
cheek and hair, so mild of aspect, I felt, as I strode amongst them, I
could have plucked them like flowers and bound them up in bunches with
my belt. And yet somehow I liked them from the first minute; such a
happy, careless, light-hearted race, again I say, never was seen before.
There was not a stain of thought or care on a single one of those white
foreheads that eddied round me under their peaked, blossom-like caps,
the perpetual smile their faces wore never suffered rebuke anywhere;
their very movements were graceful and slow, their laughter was low and
musical, there was an odour of friendly, slothful happiness about them
that made me admire whether I would or no.

Unfortunately I was not able to live on laughter, as they appeared to
be, so presently turning to my acquaintance, who had told me his name
was the plain monosyllabic An, and clapping my hand on his shoulder
as he stood lost in sleepy reflection, said, in a good, hearty way,
"Hullo, friend Yellow-jerkin! If a stranger might set himself athwart
the cheerful current of your meditations, may such a one ask how far
'tis to the nearest wine-shop or a booth where a thirsty man may get a
mug of ale at a moderate reckoning?"

That gilded youth staggered under my friendly blow as though the hammer
of Thor himself had suddenly lit upon his shoulder, and ruefully rubbing
his tender skin, he turned on me mild, handsome eyes, answering after a
moment, during which his native mildness struggled with the pain I had
unwittingly given him--