Vol. Ill, JS'o. 10.] Some Folk-Tales from Hazramaut. 651 



this, he ^vent out and slept alone. The next day, he left Baroda 

 and journeyed to Arabia, where he married his daughter to a man 

 of his own tribe — but I was not present at the mairiao-e feast. 



IX. 



F 



Stouy of the Negro Slave. 



(^Illustrating the stupidity of negroes.) 



There was once an Arab who owned a negro slave. One day 

 he said to the negro, '' Go and stay in the watch-tower to-ni^ht." 

 The negro delayed in going, and only set out after sunset. When 

 he reached half-way, he came upon an irrigation water-wheel. As 

 he entered it,i an owl hooted. The negro stopped and cried out, 

 " I am the slave of Ba-Ngetah /* Do you wish us good or evil ? *' 

 At tliat moment, an Arab who wns passing by heard the words of 

 the negro. He stopped and said to himself, '' Has this negro met 

 with enemies here or what is it ? " Then he heard the cry of the 

 owl, and saw that whenever it cried, tlie negro cried, " The slave of 

 Bd'Ngetah. Friend or foe ? " Tlie negro passed the whole night, 

 standing where he was. In the morning, the owl flew away ; and 

 the negro, on seeing it, began to abuse it, and said, " God curse thy 

 father and thy grandfather! It was on\j an owl, and I took it 

 for enemies." The negro then went to the watch-tower, while the 

 Arab went to his village, which was also that of the negro. Having 

 sat in the watch-tower for some time, the negro returned to the 

 village. Tlie next evening his master again ordered him to go to 

 the watch-tower. He set out early in the afternoon, and passed 

 the night in the tower. In the morning a party of men came down 

 the pass. The negro shouted at them saying, " Stop where you 

 are!" and he forthwith fired two shots. One of the men said to 

 him, " Why, how is this, Mubarak ! We are of such and such a 

 tribe, and we are simple wayfarers.'' The negro said, ''Who is 

 it?" The man said, ^' I, So-and-so." The negro said, ''My 

 master So- and-so ? " The other said, "Yes, father of the 

 piccanniny." Then the negro said, '^ Pass on." When the Arab 

 who had passed the night listening to the negro and the owl, came 

 up, he addressed the negro saying, '' Why all this, Mubarak, 

 when the night before last thou didst pass the whole time iti the 

 water-wheel together with the owl?" The negro said, "And 

 where wert thou ? " He said, " I was in my house." He said, 

 " Who told you then ? " " The devil told me," said he. The negro 

 thereupoa lighted his matchlock, and firing at the Arab, hit him. 

 The villagers came and found the Arab still alive. Then the master 

 of the slave went to the Arab and said, '' What is this, So-and- 

 so ?" He answered, "As you see." He said, "But what didst 

 .thou say to the negro ? " He answered, " I said nothing,*' and he 



1 Many of these wells have roofs to protect the bullocks. 

 * Ba for J-fcw and Ngetah for Nuqayfah; lit., the ''father of the mole; 

 he with the mole." 



