I was walking alone on the streets of a small town.It was night and the place seemed to be deserted. It had recently rained and I saw glow worms on the damp sidewalk. I watched my feet as I walked, entranced by the reflective surface of the wet street.
Each pebble seemed to catch the light like some rare jewel.
I bent to pick one up and saw that it was a jewel and that, indeed, jewels of varying colors were scattered all over the pavement. As I bent to pick them up, I heard the furious barking of dogs and hesitated. In spite of my fear, though, I had to collect the stones. I picked them up and they were icy cold.
I put them in my pocket.The barking of the dogs grew louder, but I saw that there were more and more jewels so I followed their path, collecting as I went. They led me into a densely wooded park, or perhaps I was on the edge of the town, it was difficult to say. I could hear the dogs searching in the bushes, but I could see a glimmering jewel in the dirt before me. Near the jewel, I glimpsed something strange hidden amongst the undergrowth. It was a man's shoe. Suddenly, I realized the danger I was caught in and knew what the dogs were after. The shoe belonged to someone else who was searching, but who was stopped by the dogs.
A paper bag still lay beside the shoe. As I bent to see if the bag contained that person's findings, one of the dogs approached with great leaps. I ran behind a tree to escape, and the dog leapt upon it. To save myself, I threw all the jewels in my pocket to the dog and he sniffed at them, but to my surprise, he continued to pursue me.
I ran on and saw a high wall.
Beyond it were houses with lit windows.
I clambered over the wall, with much difficulty, the dog snapping at my heels. On the other side, I fell quite some distance to the ground and laid there a while, trying to collect my thoughts. I regretted having thrown all my jewels to the dog at once, seeing that doing so did not seem to have any effect on him after all.
A man, carrying a walking stick approached me. He prodded me in the side with the stick, but I felt no pain. I asked him if I was dead. I felt something flowing away from me and thought that maybe it was my blood. I noticed, however, that I was lying in a small stream of water. The man turned away from me and left, muttering something to himself. I could not get up and follow him, though I wanted to very much. I heard the barking dog again and saw that he was standing over me, panting. He opened his mouth and dropped the jewels onto my chest. I took them and placed them carefully into the stream.
I was then able to get up and move out of the water and on to the opposite bank.
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