838 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



other with bewildered looks ; but, when Mak-el-Frit attempted to 

 state his reasons, they saw that he was in earnest, and Pitheka threw 

 herself sobbing upon a bench, while her mother uttered a piercing 

 shriek, and, after clutching at the empty air, sank to the ground as 

 in a swoon. Seeing her fall, I ran out to get a cup of water, but 

 when I returned the two women had recovered and were sitting like 

 monuments on the floor of the room. " Wakkad-russ, wakkad-russ 

 gray-squirrel skins," the kabira repeated, with a vacant stare, and in 

 a hollow voice, after which they both shrieked louder and longer than 

 before, while a tame monkey leaped down from the window and joined 

 in the clamor. " Mak-el-Frit, are you bereft of your reason ? " asked 

 the kabira, after a pause. 



The husband seized the monkey and flung it out of the window, 

 but made no other reply. The kabira then turned to her daughter. 

 " I see how it is," said she ; " he wants to drive us forth, to beg our 

 bread in a foreign land, where no one knows that I am the daugh- 

 ter of honorable parents. O my child ! O my sugar-eating parrot ! 

 we shall taste the bread of affliction ; we shall wander homeless till 

 our souls return to the peace of Ghinnistan." Then rising to her 

 feet <l And thou, hard-hearted one, who preferrest a cow to thy 

 wife," said she, " go and tell the neighbors that thou hast driven me 

 forth to seek a grave in a stranger's land ; for thou shalt behold my 

 face no more. Come, my daughter," said she, and strode toward the 

 door, when the old man stopped her, and adjured her for Heaven's 

 sake not to darken his countenance.* 



" I will do what I can," said he, " and you shall have that gown 

 before long, but may be it will be single-tailed." 



" No, double-tailed, by Allah ! " said the kabira, " and if you want 

 me to stay I have to impose a strict condition : Never again insult 

 your wife or your daughter by such propositions. Even the beggar- 

 women of Moropolis would despise a gray-squirrel gown, and the 

 daughter of my father shall not become a by-word in the land of 

 her birth. Heed my words, for my father has friends who will not 

 suffer his daughter to be oppressed, nor will they fail to invoke the 

 severity of the law against cruelty insupportable. Will you promise 

 me those gowns, and shall they be duly double-tailed ? " 



The old man sighed, but made no reply. 



" "Will you promise ? " 



Mak-el-Frit hesitated. . 



" Come, my daughter," said the kabira, " we must leave this house." 



"No, no, I will work, I will work ! " cried the old man, and seiz- 

 ing his tub he rushed through the open door. When I left the cot- 

 tage, I saw him hasten toward the hill at the top of his speed. He 

 was an old man, well stricken with age, and the failure of my plan 

 grieved me. 



* " Sein Angesicht schwiirzen " (W.) i. e., disgrace him. 



