Sometimes if Arsheesh was there Shasta would say， “O my Father， what is there beyond that hill？” And then if the fisherman was in a bad temper he would box Shasta’s ears and tell him to attend to his work. Or if he was in a peaceable mood he would say， “O my son， do not allow your mind to be distracted by idle questions. For one of the poets has said， ‘Application to business is the root of prosperity， but those who ask questions that do not concern them are steering the ship of folly towards the rock of indigence’.”
Shasta thought that beyond the hill there must be some delightful secret which his father wished to hide from him. In reality， however， the fisherman talked like this because he didn‘t know what lay to the North. Neither did he care. He had a very practical mind.