This is what Selim the Fisherman did [but then he
wore the iron Ring of Wisdom on his finger, and I never had that
upon mine]:
First of all, he called the wisest men of the island to him, and
found from them just where the other desert island lay upon which
the boat with Selim the Baker in it had drifted.
Then, when he had learned where it was to be found, he sent
armies and armies of men and built on that island palaces and
houses, and planted there orchards and gardens, just like the
palaces and the orchards and the gardens about him--only a great
deal finer. Then he sent fleets and fleets of ships, and carried
everything away from the island where he lived to that other
island--all the men and the women and the children; all the
flocks and herds and every living thing; all the fowls and the
birds and everything that wore feathers; all the gold and the
silver and the jewels and the silks and the satins, and whatever
was of any good or of any use; and when all these things were
done, there were still two days left till the end of the year.
Upon the first of these two days he sent over the beautiful
statue and had it set up in the very midst of the splendid new
palace he had built.
Upon the second day he went over himself, leaving behind him
nothing but the dead mountain and the rocks and the empty houses.
So came the end of the twelve months.
So came midnight.
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