rney I reached the top and could look down into the valley. Miles
away stretched the yellow sands of the desert, perfectly bare,
excepting for a sort of island of trees in the middle. All around the
desert lay the mountains excepting to the west, where the sandy valley
extended to the sea. Villages and peach orchards lay just at the foot
of the mountains, and extended part way up to slopes, but the largest
village appeared to be on the seacoast, and to that one I directed my
steps.

"As I descended the steep winding path the air became warmer, and when
I reached the valley I found that it was already midsummer there, and
the fruit was ripening on the trees.

"I came at last to the town on the edge of the sea, where I put up at
an inn, and after a much-needed rest I sought out the inn-keeper and
asked for information about the Wonderful Plant.

"Nobody, he told me, had ever crossed the desert, though hundreds had
tried to do so, for everyone knew that it was in the very center of the
oasis that the Wonderful Plant grew. He had never been able to find
out why it was a Wonderful Plant; some said it had a flower that never
died, the perfume of which would keep off trouble, others said that its
leaves, crushed and eaten, would cure all ills, and yet others thought
that if planted in an orchard it would ensure a wonderful fruit crop
forever afterwards.

"However, nobody really knew, because there were great creatures that
guarded the oasis and chased travelers. Giants they were, with
dreadful twisted features, and sometimes they rode horrible twisted
horses, and sometimes awful camels. Nobody had ever been killed by
them, for all had been wise enough to return as quickly as possible
when the giants approached.

"Sometimes indeed travelers had been attacked and chased by a huge
toucan which lived on the oasis, and which knocked them down and
battered them with its wings, but they had managed to escape with their
lives. Nobody, he added, had tried to cross for a long time now; it
was altogether too impossible.

"I was very much interested, especially in the toucan, and asked what
manner of bird it was.

"'It is a terrible creature,' answered the inn-keeper, 'and the terror
of the countryside. It is at least ten feet in length and has an
enormous beak. It delights to steal our peaches, and in spite of all
we can do ruins a good many crops every year. Scarecrows, be they ever
so large, do not frighten it, and i