` Leave off , ' shouted Moti , seizing his staff ; ` if you do n't let my horse alone I 'll crack your skulls ! you thieves ! I know you ! Last night you took my money , so to-day I took your horse ; that 's fair enough ! ' Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable , but Moti seemed so determined to keep the horse that they resolved to appeal to the law , so they went off and laid a complaint before the king that Moti had stolen one of their horses and would not give it up nor pay for it . Presently a soldier came to summon Moti to the king ; and , when he arrived and made his obeisance , the king began to question him as to why he had galloped off with the horse in this fashion . But Moti declared that he had got the animal in exchange for fifty pieces of silver , whilst the horse merchants vowed that the money they had on them was what they had received for the sale of other horses ; and in one way and another the dispute got so confusing that the king -LRB- who really thought that Moti had stolen the horse -RRB- said at last , ` Well , I tell you what I will do . I will lock something into this box before me , and if he guesses what it is , the horse is his , and if he does n't then it is yours . ' To this Moti agreed , and the king arose and went out alone by a little door at the back of the Court , and presently came back clasping something closely wrapped up in a cloth under his robe , slipped it into the little box , locked the box , and set it up where all might see . ` Now , ' said the king to Moti , ` guess ! ' It happened that when the king had opened the door behind him , Moti noticed that there was a garden outside : without waiting for the king 's return he began to think what could be got out of the garden small enough to be shut in the box . ` Is it likely to be a fruit or a flower ? No , not a flower this time , for he clasped it too tight . Then it must be a fruit or a stone . Yet not a stone , because he would n't wrap a dirty stone in his nice clean cloth . Then it is a fruit ! And a fruit without much scent , or else he would be afraid that I might smell it . Now what fruit without much scent is in season just now ? When I know that I shall have guessed the riddle ! ' As has been said before , Moti was a country lad , and was accustomed to work in his father 's garden .
He knew all the common fruits , so he thought he ought to be able to guess right ; but so as not to let it seem too easy , he gazed up XXXXX the ceiling with a puzzled expression , and looked down at the floor with an air or wisdom and his fingers pressed against his forehead , and then he said , slowly , with his eyes on the king , -- ` It is freshly plucked !
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