Note 14 — Chapter LXI

I lived in a great hole near the city, and one night I stole a necklace from the palace, and laid it up in my hole. And by looking at that necklace I acquired strength,14 and a number of mice attached themselves to me, as being able to steal food for them. In the meanwhile a hermit had made a cell near my hole, and he lived on a large stock of food, which he obtained by begging. Every evening he used to put the food, which remained over after he had eaten, in his beggar’s porringer on an inaccessible peg, meaning to eat it the next day.15 And, every night, when he was asleep, I entered by a hole, and jumping up, carried it off.