One book was said to have been saved when the great library of Alexandria burned. But it was not a¡¡1¡¡book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few¡¡2¡¡.¡¡

The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its¡¡3¡¡there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the¡¡4¡¡of the “Touchstone”!¡¡

The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any¡¡5¡¡metal into pure gold. The writing¡¡6¡¡that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked¡¡7¡¡like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, ¡¡8¡¡ordinary pebbles were cold.¡¡

So the man sold his few¡¡9¡¡, bought some simple supplies, camped on the¡¡10¡¡, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he¡¡11¡¡ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the¡¡12¡¡. Yet he went on and o n this way.¡¡