He had not gone far on his way when he came upon the King of the Ants and the King of the Beetles , who , with their armies behind them , were facing each other and preparing for battle . ` Come and help me , ' said the King of the Ants ; ` the beetles are too big for us . I may help you some day in return . ' ' I have no time to waste on other people 's affairs , ' said Peter ; ` just fight away as best you can ; ' and with that he walked off and left them . A little further on the way he met an old woman . ` Good morning , young man , ' said she ; ` you are early astir . 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 XXXXX , and presently the same old woman met him .
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