He found it too, very promptly; but when he had picked it up, and wanted
to run back to the city with it--he saw only the sea before him. No city
wall, no gate, no sentinels, no streets, no houses could now be
seen--only the sea.
The boy couldn't help that the tears came to his eyes. He had believed
in the beginning, that that which he saw was nothing but an
hallucination, but this he had already forgotten. He only thought about
how pretty everything was. He felt a genuine, deep sorrow because the
city had vanished.
That moment Herr Ermenrich awoke, and came up to him. But he didn't hear
him, and the stork had to poke the boy with his bill to attract
attention to himself. "I believe that you stand here and sleep just as I
do," said Herr Ermenrich.
"Oh, Herr Ermenrich!" said the boy. "What was that city which stood
here just now?"
"Have you seen a city?" said the stork. "You have slept and dreamt, as I
say."
"No! I have not dreamt," said Thumbietot, and he told the stork all that
he had experienced.
Then Herr Ermenrich said: "For my part, Thumbietot, I believe that you
fell asleep here on the strand and dreamed all this.
"But I will not conceal from you that Bataki, the raven, who is the most
learned of all birds, once told me that in former times there was a city
on this shore, called Vineta.
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