the Obelisks and Pyramids.

This great palm, standing in its loneliness, and looking over the desert,
one day saw something which caused its huge crown of leaves to wave to and
fro with surprise on its slender stem. On the outskirts of the desert two
lonely persons were wandering. They were still so far away that even a
camel would have looked no larger than an ant at that distance, but they
were assuredly human beings, two who were strangers to the desert--for the
palm knew the people of the desert--a man and a woman, who had neither
guide, nor beasts of burden, nor tent, nor water-bag.

"Verily," said the palm to itself, "these two have come hither to die."

The palm looked quickly around.

"I am surprised," it said, "that the lions have not already gone out to
seize their prey. But I do not see a single one about. Nor do I see any of
the robbers of the desert. But they are sure to come.

"There awaits them a sevenfold death," thought the palm. "The lions will
devour them, the serpents will sting them, thirst will consume them, the
sand-storm will bury them, the robbers will kill them, the burning sun
will overcome them, fear will destroy them."

The palm tried to think of something else; the fate of these two made it
sad. But in the immeasurable desert around it there was not a single thing
that the palm had not known and gazed at for thousands of years. Nothing
could attract its attention. It was again obliged to think of the two
wanderers.