The Cosmic Prospector

The Great Candy Mountain was part of the local folklore. Many people believed in it quite seriously and seized on every mention of the legend, each time setting off abundant salivation in the gland of dreams. Many believed, though they did not show it outwardly. But there were none who did not believe at all, because the legend was based on a genuine fact. And there was no miner in the Rings who did not dream that he and no one else would find countless treasures on an unknown fragment of the Rings, and that it would happen very soon—perhaps even before the next arrival of the collector ship.