"When you come to the city, seek out the House of Wisdom, for it is the
best house, and there you shall do well."
That was what the old people said to the boy when he started on his
journey, and he kept the saying well in mind.
"How shall I know the house?" he had asked them; and they answered, "By
the look of the steps before the door, and by the number of people who
go in and out. More we may not tell you."
The boy pondered these sayings as he journeyed.
"It will be a fine house, no doubt," he said. "I shall know it by its
size and splendor; but as for what they said of the steps, I make little
of that part."
By and by he came to the city, and looked about him eagerly for the
House of Wisdom. Presently, on his right, he saw a house of plain yet
stately aspect. Clear were its windows and high, and from one a face
looked at him of a reverend man, calm and kind.
"Might that be Wisdom?" thought the boy. Then he looked at the steps,
and saw them high and steep, and shining white, as if they had little
use. The door stood open wide, but few came or went through it.
"This cannot be the House of Wisdom!" said the boy. "I must seek
farther."
So he went farther. And presently he saw on his left a house rich and
gay of aspect, shining with gold, and all the windows flung up to the
air; and from one window a face of a fair woman laughed on him, and
beckoned, and waved a tinsel scarf with bells that tinkled sweetly on
his ear.
"Oh," said the boy, "if this might but be the House of Wisdom! but what
of the steps before the door?"
He looked at the steps; and they were wide and shallow, and trodden into
holes and valleys by many feet; and up those steps, and through the
open door, a throng was constantly passing, laughing and singing, and
pelting one another with flowers and spangles.
"Ah," said the boy, "this is, indeed, the House of Wisdom! for true it
is that I can tell by the steps, and by the people who go in and out."
And he entered the House of Folly.