17/22 I will put it in my pocket and take it to the children." "Give me a bit!" cried a naked little scamp, snatching the cake of bread from the joiner's hand and running away, slipping between the legs of the people as lithe as a snake. "The insolence of boys gets worse and worse every day." "They are hungry," said the woman apologetically. "Their fathers are gone to the war, and the mothers have nothing for their children but papyrus-pith and lotus-seeds." "I hope they enjoy it," laughed the joiner. "Let us push to the left; there is a man with some more bread." "The Regent must rejoice greatly over the miracle," said a shoemaker. "It is costing him something." "Nothing like it has happened for a long time," said a basket-maker. |