What have you got in your basket ? ' ` Cinders , ' said Peter promptly , and walked on , adding to himself , ` Take that for being so inquisitive . ' ` Very well , cinders be it , ' the old woman called after him , but he pretended not to hear her . Very soon he reached the palace , and was at once brought before the king . When he took the cover off the basket , the king and all his courtiers said with one voice that these were the finest pearls they had ever seen , and they could not take their eyes off them . But then a strange thing happened : the pearls began to lose their whiteness and grew quite dim in colour ; then they grew blacker and blacker till at last they were just like so many cinders . Peter was so amazed that he could say nothing for himself , but the king said quite enough for both , and Peter was glad to get away home again as fast as his legs would carry him . To his father and brothers , however , he gave no account of his attempt , except that it had been a failure . Next day Paul set out to try his luck . He soon came upon the King of the Ants and the King of the Beetles , who with their armies had encamped on the field of battle all night , and were ready to begin the fight again . ` Come and help me , ' said the King of the Ants ; ` we got the worst of it yesterday . I may help you some day in return . ' ' I do n't care though you get the worst of it to-day too , ' said Paul . ' I have more important business on hand than mixing myself up in your quarrels . ' So he walked on , and presently the same old woman met him . ` Good morning , ' said she ; ` what have YOU got in your basket ? ' ` Cinders , ' said Paul , who was quite as insolent as his brother , and quite as anxious to teach other people good manners . ` Very well , cinders be it , ' the old woman shouted after him , but Paul neither looked back nor answered her . He thought more of what she said , however , after his pearls also turned to cinders before the eyes of king and court : then he lost no time in getting home again , and was very sulky when asked how he had succeeded . The third day came , and with it came Jesper 's turn to try his fortune .
He got up and had his breakfast , while Peter and Paul lay XXXXX bed and made rude remarks , telling him that he would come back quicker than he went , for if they had failed it could not be supposed that he would succeed .
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