But try as they might to convince themselves that all this was nothing but a vision of their sleep, they were forced to the conviction of its sad reality.
On one side of them stretched the sea, on the other side lay a small plot of land, and beyond it again stretched the same boundless sea.

The Generals began to weep, for the first time since the registry office had been closed.
They began to gaze at each other, and they then perceived that they were clad only in their night-shirts, and on the neck of each hung an order.
"How good a little coffee would taste now!" ejaculated one General, but then he remembered what unprecedented adventure had happened to him, and he began to cry again.
"But what are we to do ?" he continued, through his tears; "if we were to write a report, of what use would it be ?" "This is what we must do," replied the other General.

"Do you go to the east, your Excellency, and I will go to the west, and in the evening we will meet again at this place; perhaps we shall find something." So they began their search to find which was the east and which the west.

They recalled to mind that their superior official had once said, "If you wish to find the east, stand with your eyes towards the north, and you will find what you want on your right hand." They began to seek the north, and placed themselves first in one position, then in another, and tried all quarters of the compass in turn, but as they had spent their whole lives in the registry office, they could decide on nothing.
"This is what we must do, your Excellency; do you go to the right, and I will go to the left; that will be better," said the General, who besides serving in the registry office had also served as instructor of calligraphy in the school for soldiers' sons, and consequently had more sense.
So said, so done.

One General went to the right, and saw trees growing, and on the trees all sorts of fruits.