morning he sent for me. That was all I needed. After that I knew I couldn't lose."
" 'What is this I hear,' said the rajah, 'about your being able to make my eyes stronger?'
" 'If that is all you want, Rajah,' I answered boldly, 'I can do it before I leave your presence.'
"
'I hope for your sake,' he said, "that this is not idle boasting. For
if it is, there's trouble in store for you.' And he glowered at me in a
way which told me plainly that he would make good his threat.
*
"I
had brought with me my whole stock of spectacles. One pair of them, I
was sure, would fit him, for I could see he was suffering from short
sight. I opened my case and made him try on one pair after another.
Finally he was pleased to declare that one particular pair enabled him
to see what-he had never seen before, namely the peculiar ugliness of
his chief counselor. Upon this sally there was great laughter among
everyone present, dictated partly by dislike of that official (I
judged) and partly by fear of the rajah.
"
'How much do you want for the whole lot?' said the rajah, greatly
pleased with his new-found sight, and put into good humor by the effect
of his little joke.
"
'I shall be honored, Tuan Rajah,' said I, 'if you will accept the pair
you have chosen as a gift from me. As for the rest, you have no use for
them.'
"
'No use?' he said. 'Of course I have. Shall I be the only one in my
land to wear glass eyes? I must have the lot for these people (he
pointed to the group around him), and they shall wear them day and
night, even as I will from now on.'
" 'As you wish, Tuan,' I said submissively.
"But
after wondering for a moment, he went on, 'No, that will not do. A
rajah's people should see through his eyes alone. No one else shall
look'through the glasses.'
"But
by this time all members of his entourage had helped themselves freely
to my spectacles, which sat askew on their squat dusky noses and gave
them a quizzing expression, like that on a congress of monkeys. No,
they looked like a crew
