watered by
the dawn, he took a basket on his arm and went from street to street,
picking up all the stones of peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, and
cherries that he could find. He then went to the orchard of the palace
and sowed them, as the serpent had desired. In an instant the trees
shot up, and stems and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit were all of
glittering gold--at the sight of which the King was in an ecstasy of
amazement, and cried aloud with joy.

But when Cola Matteo was sent by the serpent to the King, to demand the
performance of his promise, the King said, "Fair and easy, I must first
have something else if he would have my daughter; and it is that he
make all the walls and the ground of the orchard to be of precious
stones."

When the gardener told this to the serpent, he made answer, "Go
to-morrow morning and gather up all the bits of broken crockery-ware
you can find, and throw them on the walks and on the walls of the
orchard; for we will not let this small difficulty stand in our way."
As soon, therefore, as the Night, having aided the robbers, is banished
from the sky, and goes about collecting the faggots of twilight, Cola
Matteo took a basket under his arm, and went about collecting bits of
tiles, lids and bottoms of pipkins, pieces of plate and dishes, handles
of jugs, spouts of pitchers. He picked up all the spoiled, broken,
cracked lamps and all the fragments of pottery he could find in his
way. And when he had done all that the serpent had told him, you could
see the whole orchard mantled with emeralds and chalcedonies, and
coated with rubies and carbuncles, so that the lustre dazzled your
eyes. The King was struck all of a heap by the sight, and knew not what
had befallen him. But when the serpent sent again to let him know that
he was expecting the performance of his promise, the King answered,
"Oh, all that has been done is nothing, if he does not turn this palace
into gold."

When Cola Matteo told the serpent this new fancy of the King's, the
serpent said, "Go and get a bundle of herbs and rub the bottom of the
palace walls with them. We shall see if we cannot satisfy this whim!"
Away went Cola that very moment, and made a great broom of cabbages,
radishes, leeks, parsley, turnips, and carrots; and when he had rubbed
the lower part of the palace with it, instantly you might see it
shining like a golden ball on a weather-vane. And when the gardener
came again to demand the hand