I would have smiled, but he was much in earnest. As I made a movement
to sit beside him, he said:

"Taste first, O my master, of the grapes hanging from yonder wall."

I did so, and to my great surprise found them of an exquisite flavor,
finer even than the cultivated fruit of Persia, sweeter and more
delicate, of a different nature from the wild grapes we have been
eating. My astonishment appeared to delight him, and he said with a
laugh:

"The grapes are impossible, but they exist; even more absurd is my
story!" and he then narrated his adventure.

It was this:

WHAT LEV-EL-HEDYD SAW.

Yesterday, after nightfall, as he was hastening toward the Zlotuhb he
fell violently upon some blocks of stone, wrenching his ankle and much
bruising himself. Unable to walk upon his foot he limped into this
building to await our coming in the morning. The howling of wolves and
other wild beasts as they prowled about the city drove him, for
safety, to crawl up the ruins of the stairway to the floor above. As
he settled himself in a corner of this hall his nostrils were greeted
with the delicious odor from the grapes about his head. He found them
surprisingly good, and ate heartily. He soon after fell into a sleep
which lasted some hours, for when he awoke the moon was higher in the
heavens, the voices of the wolves were hushed and the city was silent.