by René Basset
"Bring him."
She brought the child to him, and the merchant left her the crow and took the boy to his home and soon became very, rich. The mother came back from the fountain. The other woman said:
"Where is your son? Listen, he is crying, that son of yours."
"He is not crying," she answered.
"You don't know how to amuse him. I'll go and take him."
"Leave him alone," said the mother. "He is asleep."
They ground some wheat, and the child did not appear to wake up.
At this the husband returned from the market and said to the mother, "Why don't you busy yourself looking after your son?" Then she arose to take him, and found a crow in the cradle. The other woman cried:
"This is the mother of a crow! Take it into the other house; sprinkle it with hot water." She went to the other house and poured hot water on the crow.
Meanwhile, the child called the merchant his father and the merchant's wife his mother. One day the merchant set off on a journey. His mother brought some food to him in the room where he was confined.
"My son," she said, "will you promise not to betray me?"
"You are my mother," answered the child; "I will not betray you."
"Only promise me."
"I promise not to betray you."
"Well, know that I am not your mother and my husband is not your father."
The merchant came home from his journey and took the child some food, but he would not eat it.
"Why won't you eat?" asked the merchant. "Could your mother have been here?"
"No," answered the child, "she has not been here."
The merchant went to his wife and said to her, "Could you have gone up to the child's chamber?"
The woman answered, "I did not go up to the room."
The merchant carried food to the child, who said: "For the love of God, I adjure you to tell me if you are my father and if your wife is my mother."
The merchant answered: "My son, I am not your father and my wife is not your mother."
The child said to her, "Prepare us some food."
When she had prepared the food the child mounted a horse and the merchant a mule. They proceeded a long way, and arrived at the village of which the real father of the child was the chief. They entered his house. They gave food to the child, and said, "Eat."
"I will not eat until the other woman comes up here."
"Eat. She is a bad woman."
"No, let her come up." They called her. The merchant ran to the child.
"Why do you act thus toward her?"
"Oh!" cried those present, "she had a child that was changed into a crow."
"No doubt," said the merchant; "but the child had a mark."
"Yes, he had one."
"Well, if we find it, we shall recognize the child. Put out the lamp." They put it out. The child threw off its hood. They lighted the lamp again.
"Rejoice," cried the child, "I am your son!"
H'AB SLIMAN
A man had a boy and a girl. Their mother died and he took another wife. The little boy stayed at school until evening. The school-master asked them:
"What do your sisters do?"
One answered, "She makes bread."
A second, "She goes to fetch water."
A third, "She prepares the couscous."
When he questioned H'ab Sliman, the child played deaf, the master struck him. One day his sister said to him: "What is the matter, O my brother? You seem to be sad."
"Our schoolmaster punishes us," answered the child.
"And why does he punish you?" inquired the young girl.
The child replied: "After we have studied until evening he asks each of us what our sisters do. They answer him: she kneads bread, she goes to get water. But when he questions me I have nothing to say, and he beats me."
"Is it nothing but for that?"
"That is all."
"Well," added the young girl, "the next time he asks you, answer him: 'This is what my sister does: When she laughs the sun shines; when she weeps it rains; when she combs her hair, legs of mutton fall; when she goes from one place to another, roses drop.'"
The child gave that answer.
"Truly," said the schoolmaster, "that is a rich match." A few days after he bought her, and they made preparations for her departure for the house of her husband. The stepmother of the young girl made her a little loaf of salt bread. She ate it and asked some drink from her sister, the daughter of her stepmother.
"Let me pluck out one of your eyes," said the sister.
"Pluck it out," said the promised bride, "for our people are already on the way."
The stepmother gave her to drink and plucked out one of her eyes.
"A little more," she said.
"Let me take out your other eye," answered the cruel woman.
The young girl drank and let her pluck out the other eye. Scarcely had she left the house than the stepmother thrust her out on the road. She dressed her own daughter and put her in the place of the blind one. They arrive.
"Comb yourself," they told her, and there fell dust.
"Walk," and nothing happened.
"Laugh," and her front teeth fell out.
All cried, "Hang H'ab Sliman!"
Meanwhile some crows came flying near the young blind girl, and one said to her: "Some merchants are on the point of passing this way. Ask them for a little wool, and I will restore your sight."
The merchants came up and the blind girl asked them for a little wool, and each one of them threw her a bit. The crow descended near her and restored her sight.
"Into what shall we change you?" they asked.
"Change me into a pigeon," she answered.
The crows stuck a needle into her head and she was changed into a pigeon. She took her flight to the house of the schoolmaster and perched upon a tree near by. The people went to sow wheat.
"O master of the field," she said, "is H'ab Sliman yet hanged?"
She began to weep, and the rain fell until the end of the day's work.
One day the people of the village went to find a venerable old man and said to him:
"O old man, a bird is perched on one of our trees. When we go to work the sky is covered with clouds and it rains. When the day's work is done the sun shines."
"Go," said the old man, "put glue on the branch where it perches."
They put glue on its branch and caught the bird. The daughter of the stepmother said to her mother:
"Let us kill it."
"No," said a slave, "we will amuse ourselves with it."
"No; kill it." And they killed it. Its blood spurted upon a rose-tree. The rose-tree became so large that it overspread all the village. The people worked to cut it down until evening, and yet it remained the size of a thread.
"To-morrow," they said, "we will finish it." The next morning they found it as big as it was the day before. They returned to the old man and said to him:
"O old man, we caught the bird and killed it. Its blood gushed upon a rose-tree, which became so large that it overspreads the whole village. Yesterday we worked all day to cut it down. We left it the size of a thread. This morning we find it as big as ever."
"O my children," said the old man, "you are not yet punished enough. Take H'ab Sliman, perhaps he will have an expedient. Make him sleep at your house." H'ab Sliman said to them, "Give me a sickle." Someone said to him: "We who are strong have cut all day without being able to accomplish it, and do you think you will be capable of it? Let us see if you will find a new way to do it."
At the moment when he gave the first blow a voice said to him:
"Take care of me, O my brother!"
The voice wept, the child began to weep, and it rained. H'ab Sliman recognized his sister.
"Laugh," he said. She laughed and the sun shone, and the people got dried.
"Comb yourself," and legs of mutton fell. All those who were present regaled themselves on them. "Walk," and roses fell. "But what is the matte
r with you, my sister?"
"What has happened to me."
"What revenge does your heart desire?"
"Attach the daughter of my stepmother to the tail of a horse that she may be dragged in the bushes."
When the young girl was dead, they took her to the house, cooked her, and sent her to her mother and sister.
"O my mother," cried the latter, "this eye is that of my sister Aftelis."
"Eat, unhappy one," said the mother, "your sister Aftelis has become the slave of slaves."
"But look at it," insisted the young girl. "You have not even looked at it. I will give this piece to the one who will weep a little."
"Well," said the cat, "if you give me that piece I will weep with one eye."
THE KING AND HIS SON
He had a son whom he brought up well. The child grew and said one day to the King, "I am going out for a walk."
"It is well," answered the King. At a certain place he found an olive-tree on fire.
"O God," he cried, "help me to put out this fire!"
Suddenly God sent the rain, the fire was extinguished, and the young man was able to pass. He came to the city and said to the governor:
"Give me a chance to speak in my turn."
"It is well," said he; "speak."
"I ask the hand of your daughter," replied the young man.
"I give her to you," answered the governor, "for if you had not put out that fire the city would have been devoured by the flames."
He departed with his wife. After a long march the wife made to God this prayer:
"O God, place this city here."
The city appeared at the very spot. Toward evening the Marabout of the city of which the father of the young bridegroom was King went to the mosque to say his prayers.
"O marvel!" he cried, "what do I see down there?"
The King called his wife and sent her to see what was this new city. The woman departed, and, addressing the wife of the young prince, asked alms of him. He gave her alms. The messenger returned and said to the King:
"It is your son who commands in that city."
The King, pricked by jealousy, said to the woman: "Go, tell him to come and find me. I must speak with him."
The woman went away and returned with the King's son. His father said to him:
"If you are the son of the King, go and see your mother in the other world."
He regained his palace in tears.
"What is the matter with you," asked his wife, "you whom destiny has given me?"
He answered her: "My father told me, 'Go and see your mother in the other world.'"
"Return to your father," she replied, "and ask him for the book of the grandmother of your grandmother."
He returned to his father, who gave him the book. He brought it to his wife, who said to him, "Lay it on the grave of your mother." He placed it there and the grave opened. He descended and found a man who was licking the earth. He saw another who was eating mildew. And he saw a third who was eating meat.
"Why do you eat meat?" he asked him.
"Because I did good on earth," responded the shade. "Where shall I find my mother?" asked the prince.
The shade said, "She is down there."
He went to his mother, who asked him why he came to seek her.
He replied, "My father sent me."
"Return," said the mother, "and say to your father to lift up the beam which is on the hearth." The prince went to his father. "My mother bids you take up the beam which is above the hearth." The King raised it and found a treasure.
"If you are the son of the King," he added, "bring me someone a foot high whose beard measures two feet." The prince began to weep.
"Why do you weep," asked his wife, "you whom destiny has given me?"
The prince answered her, "My father said to me, 'Bring me someone a foot high whose beard measures two feet."
"Return to your father," she replied, "and ask him for the book of the grandfather of your grandfather."
His father gave him the book and the prince brought it to his wife.
"Take it to him again and let him put it in the assembly place, and call a public meeting." A man a foot high appeared, took up the book, went around the city, and ate up all the inhabitants.
MAHOMET-BEN-SOLTAN
A certain sultan had a son who rode his horse through the city where his father reigned, and killed everyone he met. The inhabitants united and promised a flock to him who should make him leave the city. An old woman took it upon herself to realize the wishes of her fellow-citizens. She procured some bladders and went to the fountain to fill them with the cup of an acorn. The old man came to water his horse and said to the old woman:
"Get out of my way."
She would not move. The young man rode his horse over the bladders and burst them.
"If you had married Thithbirth, a cavalier," cried the old woman, "you would not have done this damage. But I predict that you will never marry her, for already seventy cavaliers have met death on her account."
The young man, pricked to the quick, regained his horse, took provisions, and set out for the place where he should find the young girl. On the way he met a man. They journeyed together. Soon they perceived an ogress with a dead man at her side.
"Place him in the earth," said the ogress to them; "it is my son; the Sultan hanged him and cut off his foot with a sword."
They took one of the rings of the dead man and went on their way. Soon they entered a village and offered the ring to the governor, who asked them for another like it. They went away from there, returned through the country which they had traversed, and met a pilgrim who had made the tour of the world. They had visited every place except the sea. They turned toward the sea. At the moment of embarking, a whale barred their passage. They retraced their steps, and met the ogress, took a second ring from the dead man, and departed. At a place they found sixty corpses. A singing bird was guarding them. The travellers stopped and heard the bird say:
"He who shall speak here shall be changed into a rock and shall die. Mahomet-ben-Soltan, you shall never wed the young girl. Ninety-nine cavaliers have already met death on her account."
Mahomet stayed till morning without saying one word. Then he departed with his companion for the city where Thithbirth dwelt. When they arrived they were pressed with hunger. Mahomet's companion said to him:
"Sing that which you heard the bird sing." He began to sing. The young girl, whom they meant to buy, heard him and asked him from whom he had got that song.