Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/20

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Next, the second son said, "Oh, tell me, besides being blind, wasn't it also missing a tooth in its mouth?"

The camel driver affirmed this. Then the third son added, "Would it, perchance, also be lame?"

And the camel driver confirmed this as well, "We certainly have met this camel on our way, not long ago," said the three brothers. "And it has been a while since we left it behind."

The camel driver was very happy to hear that. He thanked the three brothers and set out on the road they showed him to seek his camel. He walked twenty miles but could never find it. Then, tired and sad, he turned back, and the next day he found the young men not far from the place where he had left them. They were seated near a clear spring and were eating. And so, lamenting to them that he had not found his camel, he said to them, “I have traveled a good twenty miles down the road you showed me, but it was in vain and I got so tired, because I was unable to find the animal; and although you have given me great hints, nevertheless, I can't believe you haven't made fun of me.”

In response to which the elder brother said to him, "From the information we have given you, you can judge, whether we have made fun of you or not; but so that you don't have an unfavorable opinion of us, I give you this other piece of information. Your camel was loaded with butter on one side and with apples on the other."