When he reached Alexandria he rode up to his old master 's door . When he entered the shop , his master came forward to ask what was his pleasure , but as soon as he saw who it was he called his workmen , and they all fell on Labakan with blows and angry words , till at last he fell , half fainting , on a heap of old clothes . The master then scolded him soundly about the stolen robe , but in vain Labakan told him he had come to pay for it and offered three times its price . They only fell to beating him again , and at last pushed him out of the house more dead than alive . He could do nothing but remount his horse and ride to an inn . Here he found a quiet place in which to rest his bruised and battered limbs and to think over his many misfortunes . He fell asleep fully determined to give up trying to be great , but to lead the life of an honest workman . Next morning he set to work to fulfil his good resolutions . He sold his little box to a jeweller for a good price , bought a house and opened a workshop . Then he hung up a sign with , ` Labakan , Tailor , ' over his door , and sat down to mend his own torn clothes with the very needle which had been in the ivory box . After a while he was called away , and when he went back to his work he found a wonderful thing had happened ! The needle was sewing away all by itself and making the neatest little stitches , such as Labakan had never been able to make even at his best . Certainly even the smallest gift of a kind fairy is of great value , and this one had yet another advantage , for the thread never came to an end , however much the needle sewed . Labakan soon got plenty of customers . He used to cut out the clothes , make the first stitch with the magic needle , and then leave it to do the rest . Before long the whole town went to him , for his work was both so good and so cheap . The only puzzle was how he could do so much , working all alone , and also why he worked with closed doors . And so the promise on the ivory box of ` Wealth and Happiness ' came true for him , and when he heard of all the brave doings of Prince Omar , who was the pride and darling of his people and the terror of his enemies , the ex-prince thought to himself , ` After all , I am better off as a tailor , for `` Honour and Glory '' are apt to be very dangerous things . ' The Colony Of Cats Long , long ago , as far back as the time when animals spoke , there lived a community of cats in a deserted house they had taken possession of not far from a large town . They had everything they could possibly desire for their comfort , they were well fed and well lodged , and if by any chance an unlucky mouse was stupid enough to venture in their way , they caught it , not to eat it , but for the pure pleasure of catching it .
The old people of the town related how they had heard their parents speak of a time when the whole country was so overrun with rats and mice that there was not so much XXXXX a grain of corn nor an ear of maize to be gathered in the fields ; and it might be out of gratitude to the cats who had rid the country of these plagues that their descendants were allowed to live in peace .
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