Where was the real entrance? for, both in the streetand in the lane at the side, the whole ground floor was a continuationof shops; and people could not always be passing through them.
  One evening the foreigner sat in the balcony. A light wasburning in his own room, just behind him. It was quite natural,therefore, that his shadow should fall on the wall of the oppositehouse; so that, as he sat amongst the flowers on his balcony, whenhe moved, his shadow moved also.
  "I think my shadow is the only living thing to be seenopposite," said the learned man; "see how pleasantly it sits among theflowers. The door is only ajar; the shadow ought to be clever enoughto step in and look about him, and then to come back and tell mewhat he has seen. You could make yourself useful in this way," saidhe, jokingly; "be so good as to step in now, will you?" and then henodded to the shadow, and the shadow nodded in return. "Now go, butdon't stay away altogether."
  Then the foreigner stood up, and the shadow on the oppositebalcony stood up also; the foreigner turned round, the shadowturned; and if any one had observed, they might have seen it gostraight into the half-opened door of the opposite balcony, as thelearned man re-entered his own room, and let the curtain fall. Thenext morning he went out to take his coffee and read the newspapers.
  "How is this?" he exclaimed, as he stood in the sunshine. "Ihave lost my shadow. So it really did go away yesterday evening, andit has not returned. This is very annoying."
  And it certainly did vex him, not so much because the shadow wasgone, but because he knew there was a story of a man without a shadow.All the people at home, in his country, knew this story; and when hereturned, and related his own adventures, they would say it was onlyan imitation; and he had no desire for such things to be said ofhim. So he decided not to speak of it at all, which was a verysensible determination.
  In the evening he went out again on his balcony, taking care toplace the light behind him; for he knew that a shadow always wants hismaster for a screen; but he could not entice him out. He madehimself little, and he made himself tall; but there was no shadow, andno shadow came. He said, "Hem, a-hem;" but it was all useless. Thatwas very vexatious; but in warm countries everything grows veryquickly; and, after a week had passed, he saw, to his great joy,that a new shadow was growing from his feet, when he walked in thesunshine; so that the root must have remained. After three weeks, hehad quite a respectable shadow, which, during his return journey tonorthern lands, continued to grow, and became at last so large that hemight very well have spared half of it. When this learned manarrived at home, he wrote books about the true, the good, and thebeautiful, which are to be found in this world; and so days andyears passed- many, many years.
  One evening, as he sat in his study, a very gentle tap was heardat the door. "Come in," said he; but no one came. He opened thedoor, and there stood before him a man so remarkably thin that he feltseriously troubled at his appearance. He was, however, very welldressed, and looked like a gentleman. "To whom have I the honor ofspeaking?" said he.
  "Ah, I hoped you would recognize me," said the elegant stranger;"I have gained so much that I have a body of flesh, and clothes towear. You never expected to see me in such a condition. Do you notrecognize your old shadow? Ah, you never expected that I should returnto you again. All has been prosperous with me since I was with youlast; I have become rich in every way, and, were I inclined topurchase my freedom from service, I could easily do so." And as hespoke he rattled between his fingers a number of costly trinkets whichhung to a thick gold watch-chain he wore round his neck. Diamond ringssparkled on his fingers, and it was all real.
  "I cannot recover from my astonishment," said the learned man."What does all this mean?"