Chapter XXIX: The Lion, the Hyaena and the Hare 198 (2)

He answered, "Never mind. God is able to feed the birds when they are hungry, and so He is able to feed me."

So he stopped there in bed. Now a neighbour of his had a vision that night that in a certain cave was a great treasure stored. He wanted to go and search for it, and when he heard that the woodcutter was not going to work that day he thought that he would borrow his donkey to bring back the wealth, if his vision came true.

So he came to borrow the donkey; but as he was a very mean man he did not want to tell of his vision or for what purpose he wanted the donkey. He knocked at the door, and the wife came and opened it, and he asked to see the woodcutter.

The wife went to call her husband, but he said, "Tell him to come in here; I will not get up."

So the neighbour came in and asked the woodcutter to lend him his donkey, and said, "If I have a prosperous journey I will give you a few coppers."

The woodcutter agreed, and he took the donkey and went to the place about which he had dreamed. There he found the cave, and when he entered he saw piles of money, gold, silver and copper.

So he gathered up first all the gold and then all the silver and filled the donkey's saddle-bags, till at last they would hold no more.

He was loth to leave the copper, so he left the donkey outside the cave and went back and began to stuff his clothes with the copper coins. Whilst he was doing this the mouth of the cave fell in, and he was unable to get out.

The donkey waited and waited till at last, when evening was near, seeing no one coming, it set off and returned home, and came to the door of the house. The wife heard a noise at the door and said, "My husband, there is some one at the door; get up and open it to see who it is."

He replied, "No, my wife, I am going to stop just here in bed till God brings me my food."

So the wife opened the door, and the donkey walked in to where the woodcutter was lying in bed. When he looked at it he saw that the saddle-bags were stuffed full of gold and silver.

The man and his wife waited for the return of the neighbour, but when he did not come back they made plans together what they should do.

The husband said to his wife, "Behold, my wife, the neighbours all know that we are very poor and have no money in the house. Even if we were to take a little money and buy food to-morrow they will say that we have stolen it, so how are we to spend all this wealth? Even if we go away they will know that we have not the money to expend on a journey, so what shall we do?"

So they planned together, and then they crept out, when everybody was asleep, and put a little money on the doorstep of each house near them. On one they put ten reals, on another five, and so on.

In the morning when every one opened their doors, behold, some silver coins on the doorstep. So the neighbours said to one another, "I got five reals; what did you get?" and so on. Another said, "Surely some Jin must have put all this money here in the night."

Then were the neighbours not surprised when they saw that the woodcutter and his wife had a little money wherewith to buy food. So the woodcutter said to his neighbours, "I found twenty reals on my doorstep this morning, and I and my wife are going to expend this money on travelling to a far country, where perhaps we will meet with better fortune than here."

So they bought the necessaries for a long journey with a little of that money, and then the greater part they packed up on the donkey and journeyed off.

They travelled on and on, till at last they came to a country where they were not known, and there they bought a house and settled down, and the people said, "Behold, these must be some rich folk who have come from a far country."

So they lived there in great splendour, and spent their money and gave praise to God.

This is the story of the woodcutter who had trust in God, and it finishes here.

VIII

KITANGATANGA OF THE SEA

There was once a man, and he lived at Kilwa. And that man married a wife, and built a hut, in which they stayed. Everything that woman asked for he gave her, only that hut he had built without a door.

He himself, when he went abroad and returned, used to climb up a ladder and get in at the window, and when he went away he took away the ladder. So that woman stayed in that hut and was not able to go out, not even for a little, and so she was sick of heart.

Now when her mother heard about this she came and dug a hole under the wall, so that she was able to come and see her daughter whenever the husband had gone out. The mouth of that hole the woman covered over with matting, so that that man, her husband, did not get to see it.

Now that man was a merchant, and used to trade up and down the coast even as far as Maskat.

One day he came home to his wife and said to her, "My wife, it is time that I went up the coast trading, so in a week's time I will start and will go to Zanzibar and Maskat, and then, after the space of one year, I will return again."

So his wife said to him, "It is well, my husband; may you go and return in safety."

When her husband went away again she got out quickly by her tunnel and came to her mother and said, "My mother, my husband is going to travel away for a year and leave me in my hut. Now you must go quickly and get a fast ship ready for me and tell no one."

Then she returned and sat in the hut, and in the evening her husband returned and climbed in by that window of his.

After a week had passed the husband took leave of his wife and went down to the harbour, got on board his ship and set sail for Zanzibar.

After he had gone, the wife came out quickly and went down to the harbour and got on board the vessel her mother had prepared for her and set sail behind him.

In the middle of the ocean that boat of hers passed his. He looked at it and called out, "Who is that in the ship that is passing me?"

She answered, "It is I, my name is Kitangatanga of the sea."

She arrived at Zanzibar, moored her vessel and went ashore, and found that house where he stayed and entered it and sat down. Presently her husband arrived, moored his boat and went up to that house.

When he saw that woman he was surprised and said to her, "How like you are to my wife whom I left in Kilwa!"

So he talked to her for a while and then asked, "Are you married?"

She replied, "No, I am a widow."

Then he said, "If you will marry me I will settle on you a hundred reals."

So that woman agreed, and they were married, and they stayed together. After two weeks he said to her, "My wife, I must continue my journey to Maskat now; but in the space of six months I will return and stay with you."

She said, "It is well, my husband; go, and return in safety."

So he got in his boat and set sail for Maskat. After he had gone she got in her boat and set sail behind him. In the middle of the sea her vessel passed his, and he called out, "Who is that who is passing me?"

She replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea." She arrived first in Maskat and found that house where he stopped and went and sat in it. Presently her husband arrived, moored his ship and went up to the house.

When he saw that woman sitting there he was very surprised and said, "How like you are to my wife whom I left in Kilwa, and also to that woman I married in Zanzibar."

Then he asked her, "Are you married?"

She replied, "No, I am a widow." So he said, "I will marry you for one hundred reals."

She agreed, and they were married, and he stayed with her six months there in Maskat. At the end of that time he said, "My wife, I must now return home. I will stay a year, and then I will return to you."

She said, "Go, and return in peace, my husband."

So he set sail from Maskat, and that woman set sail after him. In the midst of the ocean she passed him again, and when he asked who it was, she replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea."

She arrived at Zanzibar and went up to that house.

Presently her husband arrived, and she said, "Welcome, stranger; what is the news?"

He replied, "The news is that I have made a prosperous journey to Maskat, and that there I met a woman just like the wife I left at Kilwa and also like you, and I married her."

She replied, "It is well, my husband."

After he had stopped several weeks he said to her, "My wife, I must now return home. I will stop one year, and then I will return to you."

So she said, "May your journey be prosperous, my husband, and may you return in safety."

So he set sail for Kilwa, and she set sail after him. In the midst of the ocean she passed him again, and when he asked who it was, she replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea."

When she arrived in Kilwa she moored her vessel and went up to her house. She entered by her underground doorway and sat down. After a while her husband arrived and climbed in by his window. She said, "Welcome, my husband."

Then she cooked food for him, and when he had eaten she asked him, "What is the news of there where you have been?"

He replied, "I made a good voyage to Zanzibar, and there I met a woman just like you. I married her for one hundred reals, and stayed with her for two weeks. Then I went on to Maskat, and there I met a woman exactly like you and like that woman I married in Zanzibar. I married her, too, for a hundred reals, and stopped with her six months.

"Then I returned to Zanzibar and stayed with my wife there a few weeks, then set out for home, and here I am. Now what is the news here of this place whilst I have been away?"

That wife replied, "The news is this, my husband. I was angered because you put me in a hut without a door, so I made this underground door which you see there.

"Then, when you set sail, I set sail after you, and I passed you in the sea; and when you asked who I was, I replied, 'Kitangatanga of the sea!'

"I came first to Zanzibar, and it was I whom you married there for a hundred reals.

"When you left for Maskat, I set sail behind you, and arrived there first. It was I also whom you married in Maskat for one hundred reals. That is my news, my husband."

When her husband heard that, he said, "Indeed, this is true. Now I will build you a very fine hut with a door in it, so that you may go out when you please."

So he built her a splendid hut with a door and put her into it, and there they lived happily.

IX

THE LION'S TALISMAN

The talisman of the lion is like that of cattle; it is a hairy pellet, and he carries it about with him in his mouth.

When he goes out to hunt he digs a hole in the ground and hides it there. Then he goes to hunt, and when he has finished hunting and eating meat till he is satisfied, he comes back to that place where he has hid his charm and digs it up and swallows it.

When he sees that he is about to die, he throws it far away, so that it may not be found at his death.

Should a man get it, he becomes possessed of great good fortune. If he wishes he can put it away and keep it, or if he desires he can sell it for much money, or he can make it into a charm and wear it himself. If a man wearing this charm meets with a lion, that lion is unable to do anything to him, by reason of that charm.

X

THE STORY OF KIBARAKA AND THE BIRD

Once upon a time there was a Sultan, and he had one son, a very handsome youth, called Hasani.

Every day at noon the Sultan and his son used to go to the mosque to pray. After they had gone the Sultan's wife used to sort out the seeds of every kind of grain in the Sultan's store. Those that needed drying she gave to a slave, called Kibaraka, to put out in the sun to dry.

One day, after the Sultan and his son had gone to prayer, she called to the slave, "Kibaraka, take these seeds and put them out in the sun." Kibaraka took the grain and spread it out to dry, each kind by itself.

Suddenly a wondrously fine bird came and sat down by the grain and called out--

"Kibaraka! Kibaraka!"

He answered, "Here, lady, here."

Then the bird sang--

_Bird._ "Shall I eat of this wheat?
Or shall I not eat?
Or shall I eat millet?"

_Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, I will it."

_Bird._ "Shall I eat rape instead?
Or must I not be fed?
Shall I eat maize to-day?"

_Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, eat, I pray."

_Bird._ "Shall I eat all the grain?
Or must I now refrain?
Shall I eat rice to-day?"

_Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, eat, I pray."

_Bird._ "Where has your master gone to-day?"

_Kibaraka._ "Gone to the mosque to read and pray."

_Bird._ "My greetings to the Sultan give
When he returns. Long may he live."

At that it flew away.

On the next day and the day after the bird came again and sung the same song.

Till one day Kibaraka told his young master Hasani, "Master, every day at one o'clock, when you are at the mosque, a lovely bird comes here."

Hasani asked, "What kind of bird is this?"

Kibaraka said, "All ordinary wonders are surpassed by this bird, for it sings a very beautiful song," and he told his master of the song.

At these words the Sultan's son perceived that this bird was of the daughters of the Jins, and he fell in love with her.

Then he said to Kibaraka, "See here, I have given you your freedom, you are no longer a slave, and now you must catch this bird for me."

After that Hasani was seized with a grievous illness because of his longing for that bird till, on the third day at one o'clock, the Sultan went out to look for all the wisest of the medicine men to attend to his son.

Whilst he was gone that bird came and sat by the grain and called, "Kibaraka! Kibaraka!"

Kibaraka cut a thin pole and made a noose at the end and set it near the bullrush millet, the grain the bird loved best.

When it had finished eating all the seeds it wished to fly away, but one of its wings caught in the noose.

Then it said to Kibaraka, "Please let me go and do not touch me, for you will injure me. Take this feather of mine and carry it to your master, and let it be my salaams to him."

So Kibaraka brought the feather to the Sultan's son. Hasani was very pleased. Then he said to him, "Kibaraka, my brother, why did not you catch the owner of this feather?"

Kibaraka said, "I was not able to catch it. When I saw it I fell down seven times because of its light, and my wisdom forsook me."

When the Sultan returned, his son said to him, "My father, you must sound the pallaver-horn, that all the people may come before the palace." The Sultan loved his son exceedingly, so he gathered all his people together. Then Hasani said, "Tell the people that they must look for this bird and bring it to me, and if they do not bring it I shall die." So the Sultan gave out the order, "There is no leave to weave or spin, to grind corn or pound grain, until this bird has been brought."

At once all the people of that country went out into the jungles and deserts to look for that bird. Every one who found a fine bird would seize it and bring it to the Sultan's son, but to each he said, "This is not the one."

Till one day, as people were sitting in the Sultan's court holding a pallaver, just after one o'clock had struck, they looked up and saw a dustcloud coming like rain.

Behold, it was that bird coming, and Kibaraka recognised its coming.

When it came it sat down by the grain and ate all the seeds till, as it came to the last, Kibaraka caught it and brought it to his master. When Hasani looked on that bird, behold, it was a beautiful woman.

He said, "Kibaraka, run quickly, go your way to the audience chamber and tell my father that he must fire the cannons, for the thing I desired has come to pass, and the request I made of Allah has been granted."

So Kibaraka came and told the Sultan, and the cannons were fired, and wedding festivities and feastings were held for nine years.

After that Hasani and the fair Jin had a child, a boy like pearls and precious stones.

And Hasani loved his wife exceedingly, and the people of that country saw wonders come to pass, for the second son was like the stars and the moon.

The house of that Sultan was greatly blessed, and the story ends here.

XI

THE STORY OF THE FOOLS

Once upon a time there lived a man called Omari and his wife, and they had a very fine fat black ox. So fat was this ox that all the young men in the village wanted to eat it, but Omari would not part with it.

Till one day he went away on a journey; then they thought, "Now we will be able to get that ox and have a feast, for his wife is a great fool."

So twenty men set out and came to the house of that woman, Omari's wife, and they knocked on the door.

"Hodi!"

And she replied, "Come near."

So they went in and told that woman, "We have had a vision, and in that vision we saw that you were going to have a child, a beautiful boy, who will be rich and clever, and will marry the daughter of the Wazir."

Now when the woman heard this she was wondrously pleased, for she had no child.

Then these men said, "There was, in our dream, the sacrifice of a black ox, before this came to pass."

So she said, "Take my ox and sacrifice him, that the vision may come true."

They replied, "Shall we kill him, though, while your husband is away?"

She said, "Take him, yes, take him, for my husband will be only too pleased when he knows for what purpose the ox has been slain; and he, too, desires a son."

So the youths took away the ox and killed it and feasted and made merry.

After three days the husband returned, and when he did not see his ox in its stall he asked his wife, "Where is the ox?"

She said to him, "It has been slaughtered."

"Why?"

She replied, "Men came who had dreamed a dream that we should have a beautiful male child of great good fortune, and as the sacrifice of a black ox was necessary to bring it true, I gave ours to them."

Omari then said to his wife, "You are a fool. Now I am going out to search for as great a fool as you are. If I cannot find any one who is your equal in folly, I shall leave you; you will cease to be my wife."

So Omari took his donkey and rode away till he came to the house of a certain rich man, and this house had a verandah beneath it. Omari got off his donkey, and as he stood there, a woman, one of the slaves of the household, passed in, and said to him, "Master, where do you come from?"

Omari replied, "I come from the next world."

Then was that slave very astonished, and she went upstairs to her mistress and said to her, "There, below in the verandah, is a man who comes from the next world."

"Is that indeed so?" asked the mistress.

"It is indeed true, and if you doubt me ask him yourself, for he is there below," said the slave.

So the mistress sent her slave down to call Omari up into the house, and she came to him and said, "The mistress asks you to come upstairs."

Omari replied, "I cannot come upstairs; I am afraid, because it is a stranger's house."

When the slave brought these words to her mistress, she herself came down and called to Omari, "Do not be afraid; come upstairs; there is no danger."

So Omari went upstairs, and that woman asked him, "Master, where do you come from?"

Omari replied, "I come from the next world."

"See," said the slave; "were not my words true?"

Then was that mistress very amazed, and she asked him, "Why have you left the next world?"

"I have come to see my father," answered Omari.

"My father, who is dead," said the woman; "have you met him there in the next world?"

"What is he called, and what is he like?" said Omari.

"He is called so-and-so, son of so-and-so," said the woman, and she described to him his appearance.

Omari replied, "I have seen him."

"And how is he?"

At that Omari put on an air of grief and shook his head and sighed.

"Oh, tell me, what is the matter with my father?" asked the woman.

Omari replied, "He is in great trouble. He has no money or clothes or food. Oh, his state is very bad!"

When that woman heard these words she wept. Then she asked Omari, "When do you return to the next world?"

"I return to-morrow. First, I must see my father, who is still alive, and then I go back."

"Will you see my father when you return?"

"Most certainly," said Omari. "Do I not live next door to him?"

"Then," said that woman, "you must take him a present from me."

So she went into an inner room and took out a bag of a thousand dollars, and clothes, and a robe, and turbans, and came and gave them to Omari, and said, "Take these and give them to my father, and say that they are from his daughter, Binti Fatima."

Then she went in and brought out another bag and said, "Take these hundred dollars; they are a present for you, as you are taking these things for my father."

So Omari gathered up the bags of money and the clothes and left that woman, and mounted his donkey and rode away.

He had only just left when the husband of that woman in the house returned home. He noticed that his wife was very joyful, so he asked her, "My wife, why are you so glad to-day?"

She said to him, "A man has just been here who has come from the next world, and he has met my father there in great trouble. So I have given him a thousand dollars and clothes to take to my father. That is why I am so happy; for now the spirit of my father will be very pleased with us, and it will bring us great good fortune."

Now that man saw that his wife had been fooled, but he feared to say so, in case his wife should tell him no more, and he wished to follow that man and get the money back.

So he said to her, "You are not a good wife, for when a man came from the next world to tell you about your father you gave him an offering to take back to him, but you never asked him about my father, or gave him anything to take to him."

Then the wife said, "Oh, forgive me, my husband, but as he has only just left you may overtake him. He was riding a donkey, and he left by that road."

Then she described him. So the husband called for his horse, and the wife ran in and brought out another bag of a thousand dollars, and as he mounted she gave it to him, saying, "Take this, my husband, and give it to him for your father, and if you gallop after him down that road you will surely overtake him."

Now Omari had ridden away on his donkey till he came to a plantation, then he turned his head and saw, in the distance, the dust made by a galloping horse. There was no one on that plantation except one male slave, and so Omari said to him, "Do you see that dust? It is made by a man of great violence. I am going to hide from him, and I advise you to climb up into a coco-nut tree, lest he do you some harm. If he speaks to you do not answer him, for it will only make him more angry."

So that slave scrambled up a coco-nut palm as fast as he could, whilst Omari hid himself and his donkey in a thicket close by.

Presently the husband of the woman galloped up, and saw the slave clambering up to the top of a tall coco-nut tree.

He stopped and called out, "Have you seen a man riding a donkey pass here?"

The slave did not answer, but continued climbing higher and higher. He asked him again and again, and the slave did not reply, but only made more haste to get well out of reach.

Then was that man very angry, and he got down from his horse and divested himself of all his robes, except only an under-garment, and placing them and the money on the ground, started climbing up after the slave.

Omari watched him from behind the thicket, and, when he had got well up the tree, he came out and seized that man's money and clothes, as well as those he already had, and then mounted his horse and galloped off.

When that man came down from the tree he found all his clothes and his money and his horse gone, and he was very ashamed. So he had to return home wearing only a loin-cloth.

When he came in his wife asked him, "My husband, why do you return naked like that?"

He was ashamed to tell her that he also had been fooled by that man, so he said, "I met the man from the next world, who told me that my father was in a very distressed condition, that he had no clothes, and was dressed in rags. So when I heard that, I took off all my clothes and gave them to that man to take to my father."

Now Omari took all that money, and the clothes, and the horse, and came back to his wife and told her, "I said that I would seek for a fool like unto yourself, and if I did not find one that you would cease to be my wife. Well, now I am content, for I have found two fools, each one more foolish than you."

So they lived together, Omari and his wife, and they spent the money and were happy together.

Here ends the story of the fools, the fool-wife, and the husband and wife who were fooled.

XII

THE HYAENA AND THE MOONBEAM

A hyaena went forth to drink water one day, and he came to a well and stooped down to quench his thirst. Now where he stooped down there was a moonbeam shining on the water.

The hyaena saw that moonshine there in the water and he thought it was a bone. He tried to reach it, but he could not, so he said to himself, "Now if I drink all this water I will get that bone which is at the bottom."

So he drank and drank, and the water was not finished. So he drank and drank again, till he was so full of water that he died.

XIII

THE SULTAN'S SNAKE-CHILD

Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and those two men were very rich with much wealth, but neither had a son.

They took counsel together, "How will it be when we die? Who shall we leave all this wealth to and we are without children?"

The Sultan said to the Wazir, "We must go to a far country and look for some wise man who will tell us what to do."

So they went away, and wandered on and on for three years, till at last they met an old woman, bent with the weight of many years.

That woman said to them, "My grandsons, I know what you have come for."

Then she sank down to the bottom of a big lake, and when she came up again out of the water she brought in her hands two charms, which were two slimy roots; one for the Sultan and one for the Wazir. And she said, "Take these, and when you return home you will find that your wish has already been accomplished; but to these charms I give you there are conditions attached. When you arrive in your town, you must tell no man about it, and take heed that in the way you neither chirrup nor look back."

Then she shook her withered hand and said, "It has taken you three years to come; you will return in one month. Farewell."

Then the Sultan and the Wazir set off home.

In the way the Wazir said, "Allah be praised that our wish has been granted." The Sultan, forgetting the old woman's warning, chirruped, as much as to say, "I will believe when I see."

After one month they came to the gate of their town, and as they entered the cannons sounded and the news spread forth, "There is an heir in the palace of the Sultan, and there is an heir in the house of the Wazir."

The Wazir returned to his house swiftly, and there he found a most beautiful boy.

The Sultan came to the palace, and there he found a snake.

When he heard that the Wazir had a lovely child he was very pleased, and he used to go every day to the Wazir's house to see that child, but he told his people to throw that snake out of the palace.

Now there was a slave girl in the palace called Mizi, and when she saw them taking that snake to throw it in the river she said, "Give me that snake, that I may bring him up as my child."

So Mizi took that snake and wore him round her neck till he grew, and then she came to the Sultan and said, "Build me a grass hut, that I may live there with my child, the snake."

So a hut was built for her, and she stayed there by herself with that snake. She took her cooking pots there, and cooked food for herself and the snake. Every day she fed that snake, and it grew and grew, till at last it filled up the whole hut.

Then that snake said to Mizi, "Go and tell the Sultan that his little snake wants a stone house of seven storeys in which to live. He must look for craftsmen who are not afraid, to come and build the house, and what they ask must be given them."

So Mizi came and told those words to the Sultan, and craftsmen who had no fear were sought for. They came and built a house of seven storeys in the space of seven days, and the wages they asked for were given them.

When the house was finished, they said, "Go and tell the little snake that the house is ready."

Then Mizi and the snake moved into that house and lived there. Till one day the snake said to Mizi, "Go and look for a sage who will teach me learning, but he must be master of his heart and unafraid. He must come of his own free will."

So she went and sought a man of learning, but every one she asked to come replied, "I am not going so as to be swallowed whole by that snake."

At last she found a sage who said, "I will go, for I see that Mizi lives with this snake and is not devoured, so why should I be eaten?"

So that professor came and taught the snake learning of every kind, and when he had finished he went to the Sultan and received the pay he asked for.

So the snake and Mizi lived together, till one day that snake said to her, "Now you must go and look for a wife for me; but she must come of her own free will, and what money she wants she must have."

So a wife for the snake was sought for in all the land, but none was found; all said, "Who wants to go and be swallowed whole by a big snake?"

Now in that country was a very poor man who had seven daughters. When the news came to them all refused, till the seventh and youngest was asked, and she replied, "We are very poor; I will go and be eaten by that snake. What matter?"

So that girl was taken and decked out with pearls and precious stones and clothes of silk, and then Mizi was called and told, "This is the wife of your master, the snake. Take her."

So Mizi took her and brought her to the snake, and he said, "Arrange everything for her comfort."

When night had come, Mizi slept with that girl till, when twelve o'clock came, that snake came out from inside his skin. He put on wooden sandals and went to the bathroom and made his ablutions. When he had finished washing he took his prayer mat and spread it out and prayed and read the Koran.

After that he came and sat near that girl and looked at her and said, "My wife is beautiful; she has beautiful eyes, lovely ears and long straight hair. Hhum! Poor me, who am a snake. Sleep, my beautiful wife."

Then he entered his skin again and slept.

Seven days passed in this way, and on the eighth Mizi said to that girl, "I will fasten a thread to your thumb; when I pull it open your eyes and look at him."

That night, at twelve o'clock, the snake came out of his skin, and then Mizi pulled the thread and that girl awoke and opened her eyes and saw a wondrously handsome Arab youth: in all that country there was no youth so handsome as that son of the Sultan.

The snake went to the bathroom and made his ablutions, and then returned and prayed and read the Koran.

At the time of the before dawn breezes he came and looked at his wife and then returned to his skin. When dawn came Mizi and that girl took counsel together, and then Mizi went to the Sultan and said to him, "Give me three tins of oil and ten maunds of firewood."

When she had got them she had them brought to the house.

Then she said to that girl, "Now we must dig a pit here in the other room."

So they dug a pit and put in it the firewood and then poured the oil over it.

That night they watched till after midnight. When the youth went to the bathroom they got up and seized on the skin and tried to drag it into the pit, but it was too heavy for them. So they exerted all their strength, till at last they managed to drag it into the pit. After that they set fire to the wood and the oil.

When its owner in the bathroom heard the skin crackling he ran in and said to Mizi, "What have you done, taking away my clothes to put in the fire?" Then he fell down, and did not regain consciousness till three o'clock next day, for that youth did not know the world outside of his skin.

When he recovered Mizi cooked porridge for him, and when he had eaten it he said to Mizi, "Go to the Sultan and tell him to make offerings, nine shells full of alms; for the day after to-morrow I will go out."

So Mizi went with the news to the Sultan, but he replied, "Go back and get eaten by that snake. We do not want any more of your folly; for you have taken the poor man's daughter and brought her to the snake, and she has already been swallowed up. Now you in your turn will be eaten, and to-day, I suppose, you have come to take leave of us."

Mizi returned and said to that youth, "He will not give the offering."

He replied, "Then leave him; he who has had no luck does not trust to luck. On Friday I will come forth by the power of Allah, alone."

When Friday came he decked his horse with pearls and precious stones and rode off to the mosque to pray amongst all the people; but the Sultan did not know that it was his son.

Then Mizi came forth and trilled and shouted for joy, and told every one in the mosque: "Look at me to-day, for it is to-day that my son, the snake, has come to life."

Many people thought that Mizi had gone mad. When the Sultan had finished praying he came forth, and Mizi said to him, "To-day my child has come forth."

The Sultan said, "Peace be upon you;" and he followed that youth on his horse and knew that it was his son, and rejoiced greatly.

He said to his slaves, "Run to the palace, spread out diamonds and cushions, carpets and mats; do not leave anything of any value, but spread everything out."

Then was the wedding of that girl, the poor man's daughter, and the snake held with great festivity. So that snake and Mizi lived happily, and he loved her as if she had been his own mother. When he became Sultan he gave the kingdom to her, he gave Mizi what spoke and what did not speak; it became her country, because she had nurtured that snake from its infancy until it became a full-grown man of wisdom.

Now this story comes from the Sultan and his Wazir.

XIV

THE POOR MAN AND HIS WIFE OF WOOD

Once upon a time there was a poor man who used to beg. One day he sat thinking to himself, "I am a poor man and have no wife. When I go out begging there is no one to come back to in my house or to cook my food for me whilst I am away."

So he went out to the forest and cut down a tree and carved out of it a woman of wood, and when he had finished he decorated her with jewels and necklaces of wood, and then brought her back to his house.

Then that tree turned into a woman, and he called her Mwanamizi, the child of a root, and he lived with her many days. Till one day, when that poor man had gone forth to beg, a slave girl ran out from the palace of the Sultan in search of a brand with which to light the fire.

She came and knocked at the poor man's door, and when she got no answer she entered and went into the kitchen, and there she saw a lovely woman decked out with pearls and jewels. She went running back to the Sultan and said to him, "I have just seen the most wondrously beautiful woman in the house of that beggar who lives near us."

The Sultan then ordered his soldiers, "Go to fetch the wife of the beggar, that I may see if the words of this slave are true or false."

So they went and took Mwanamizi and brought her to the palace. When the Sultan saw her he thought her very beautiful.

So he said, "This woman is too beautiful for a beggar. I will take her for my wife."

Now when that poor man returned from begging he could not find his wife; then the neighbours told him, "The woman has been taken by the Sultan to his palace."

So he threw down his bag and went round to the palace, and rushed in before the Sultan and asked him, "Where is my wife whom you have taken?"

The Sultan replied, "Get out of my sight, you foolish fellow, or I will order my soldiers to beat you."

Then he said, "If you will not give me back my wife, take off my ornaments which she is wearing and return them to me, that I may go."

At that the Sultan called his soldiers and had him turned out of the palace.

After that the poor man went under the Sultan's window and sang--

"Oh listen, master, unto me:
My wife I carved from yonder tree;
I carved her well, with zeal untold,
And decked her out with fetters gold.
These ornaments and jewels fine,
Oh, give them back, for they are mine;
And, Mwanamizi, let me go."

When the woman heard the poor man's song she was bathed in tears.

The Sultan then said to her, "Take off those silly ornaments and throw them to him, that he may go away. I will give you things tenfold more fine and rare."

The woman did not want to take off those things.

The poor man sang again--

"Oh listen, master, unto me:
I carved my wife from yonder tree."

Then the woman took off her ornaments and threw them down to him, saying--

"The ornaments are thine,
The golden fetters fine;
Take them, oh, take them,
Makami, and go."

She cried then very much, and took off all her things, till there was left a single charm round her neck.

The Sultan said, "Take off all his ornaments quickly and throw them to him, that he may go." But Mwanamizi did not want to take off that charm, for it was her soul. Then the poor man sang again, and Mwanamizi unfastened the charm from her neck and threw it to him, and at that moment she turned into a tree there in the house of the Sultan.

The poor man sighed and went back to his house, but the Sultan in his palace was seized with great fear.

The telling of the story ends here.

XV

BINTI ALI THE CLEVER

Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and that Sultan had seven children, all sons, and that Wazir had seven children, all daughters.

Those daughters of the Wazir had no mother; their mother had died, and they were very poor.

The sons of the Sultan used to laugh at the daughters of the Wazir, saying, "You poor people, what do you eat? It is our father who pays your father his wages, and how do they suffice for you seven people who are in one house? You poor creatures, you have not even a brother to help you."

Now those girls used to plait baskets and sell them. They lived for many days like that, their work being to cry every day, and when they came out of school they used to plait and sell their baskets. Till one day the youngest daughter, who was called Binti Ali, was sitting with her father, and she said to him, "What advice have you to give us, father?"

Her father asked her, "Why, my child?"

She said to him, "We are only seven girls; we have neither husbands nor brothers. Should anything happen to you, who will be our headman? Father, you must arrange to have a ship built for me, and it must be ready in the space of three years."

Her father said, "All this wealth, where shall I get it from, that I may build a ship?"

She answered him, "God, the merciful, will provide."

In the morning the Wazir arose and went to the Sultan and said to him, "Give me help, for my youngest child wants a vessel built for her."

The Sultan brought out nine lakhs of rupees and gave them to his Wazir. Then the Wazir sought for workmen, and told them to build a ship and have it ready in three years' time.

Now that child, Binti Ali, was very beautiful, more beautiful than all her sisters. Many men had come to seek her in marriage, but she had refused them, saying, "I am poor; my father has not wealth to suffice for my wedding."

At the end of three years the ship was ready, and her father called her, "Eh, my child, Binti Ali." And she answered him, "Lebeka, father," which means "Here I am" in the language of to-day; but long, long ago, Lebek was the name of the god worshipped by the Phoenicians at the temple of Baal-lebek (Bal bek).

Her father said to her, "Your ship is finished and ready for you."

So she went to see it, and found that it was built in a wondrously fine way. When she returned she said to her father, "Now you must find me a captain and sailors, and you must put on the vessel enough food to last three years."

So he found a crew for her, and provisioned the ship and returned. Then she said, "Father, now you must buy for me fine raiment, a sultan's turban, a shirt and coat, and a sword and dagger. Also you must get for me sandals of gold braid and two men's gold rings."

So her father searched for one hour and half a second, and then returned and said, "My child, the things you want are ready."

Then he asked her, "My child, where are you going to? Tell me."

She said, "Father, have you no understanding? I am going to the country of the Sultan Makami."

Her father said to her, "My child, you are already lost. Do you not know that a woman may not go to the country of Sultan Makami? Any other than a male who enters the country is put to death."

Binti Ali said to him, "Father, have you no wits, you, a full-grown man, who rule all this land? Do you not see that all these clothes which you have bought for me are men's clothes? I want to go and see Makami's country."

Her father said, "I do not approve of this journey you are setting out upon."

His daughter replied, "What becomes of me is in the hands of God."

Then she entered the bathroom and washed herself, and when she came out she was dressed as a man. Now that girl had wisdom more than all her sisters, and she was well read in the Koran.

She took her dog, whose name was Atakalo, and she entered the ship and set sail.

She travelled day and night for three years, and there in the midst of the ocean she taught her dog till it attained great learning.

At the end of the third year she drew near to the country of Sultan Makami, and she ordered a salute to be fired, and the people on land replied also with a salute.

When her vessel drew near, the Sultan's son rowed out to meet her. He climbed on board, and there he saw a handsome Arab youth sitting on the deck.

Binti Ali arose, and they greeted one another after the fashion of men: "Peace be with you," "And with you peace."

She went ashore with that son of the Sultan, and they came to the palace.

When they came to the palace he said to his father, the Sultan, "How shall we see that this is a man and not a woman? Let us give him very hot gruel, and if it is a woman she will not be able to drink it, and then we will kill her."

So they ordered food to be brought, and slaves were told: "Take matting and platters, and very big trays and cups of gold, and place them ready for the feast."

When the food was ready they brought gruel for that foreign youth to drink, and it was very hot.

Binti Ali took it and threw it away, saying, "Am I a woman, that you bring me cold gruel like that?"

So they prepared fresh gruel, steaming hot, and gave it to her, and she said, "Ah, that is more fit for a Sultan's son to drink."

So she put it beside her, and her dog Atakalo blew on it, so that it quickly cooled, and she drank it.

Very good food was then brought, and they fed, and she returned to her ship.

The Sultan then said, "To-morrow we must take this foreigner to my store of jewels and ornaments, and if it be a woman we will surely see, for she will take delight in women's jewellery."

All night long Binti Ali taught Atakalo what he should do, and in the morning the Sultan's son came to fetch her.

He said, "My father says that I am to take you to his store and show you his treasures."

So they went to the Sultan's treasure-house, where they showed her neck chains and nose pendants, anklets and bracelets, women's gold rings and ear ornaments.

She said, "Have you in this country no men's ornaments, that you should show me nothing but women's jewellery?"

So they brought her to the next store, wherein were gold-hilted daggers and all manner of arms, swords and pistols, guns and muskets. These she admired, and meanwhile Atakalo went and swallowed all the gold ornaments he could find and took them to the ship, till he had brought much wealth aboard.

Then the Sultan's son said to his father, "Now what shall we do, so that we may kill her if she is a woman?"

So the Sultan said, "Make him take off his turban, and then we will surely see by the manner in which he ties it whether it is a woman or not."

So the Sultan's son said, "Now will you not wash?"

Binti Ali said, "Thank you, I have already bathed on board."

So he said, "If it is only your face, I beseech you to wash."

So she said, "Certainly; but first you and your father must wash."

So they took off their turbans and began to wash, when suddenly there was a shout from outside: "The Sultan's house is on fire."

Behold, that dog Atakalo had brought a brand and set fire to the palace. Then the Sultan and his son and all the people in his house rushed out, with their turbans in their hands, to see what was the matter and help put out the flames.

Binti Ali went down swiftly to her ship and got on board, and meanwhile Atakalo had run round and bored a hole in the bottom of every boat and ship in the Sultan's harbour. Then Atakalo came back to her vessel and said, "Mistress, I have finished."

So she weighed anchor and changed into her woman's clothes. The Sultan and his son and all the people, when they saw that she was sailing off, rushed down to the beach and tried to row out and stop her, but every boat they launched sunk; and so they were not able to get to her.

Then they saw her come up on the deck.

Then, changing her clothes as a woman, she sings--