656 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, [December, 1907. 



brought bim in and showed him a place near the girl's bedside. 

 Abu Nu^as lay down flat on his back, while the girl looked on. 



* 



* 













there. She 

 " A stranger. 



Who 



nother came and saw JJs Nu^as sitting 

 is this man ? " Her daughter answered, 

 He has got something so nice that once you have 

 tasted it you will never give it up." The old woman cried out, 

 *' This is what produces children !" When ^bw Nu^ns he^»rd this 

 he began to cry aloud, *'My children, my chiLlren!" The old 



woman said, 



disgra 



He said, *^I wont listen; I 



want my children, my children." She sjiid, **Be quiet; people 

 will hear us/' He said, *' And what is that to me?" She said, 

 '' Take a hundred dollars and keep silent." He said, " No." 

 Two hundrecJ." "No." '^ Three hundred." "No." ''Four 



hundred." He agreed 



four hundred. He took the four 



hundred and went away. Half he gave to his brother and half he 

 took himself. His brother soon lost his two hundred in gambling, 



and came back to Ahii Nu^as. The latter said to him, "I gave 

 you a hundred and you squandered it. I then gave you two 

 hundred. Now if you were to a?<k me for a single farthing, I 

 would not give it to you. You are not my brother, and I am not 

 your brother." This is the story oE Ahu Nu^as and his brother. 

 When I left them Abu Nd^as was a man of great wealth, while his 



brother went in rxet^A of his snunpr. 



XIII. 



Story of the Kurbu 



There is a tribe by the name of J?«r6, which had a blood-feud 

 against the tribe of Yam ; so three of them met together, and one 

 of them who had been wronged said, " Let us make a raid upon 

 the Yam tribe." One i)f the other two replied, '' It won't do ; their 

 country is far off, and there is nothing on the road," He who had 

 been wronged said, '* Will yon come along with me, or must I go 

 alone ? " The others said, '* If you intend to go alone, we must, of 

 course, join you. If we're killed, we're killed, and if we live, we 

 live." So they agreed to make the jonrney, and set off, taking with 

 them o!ily one solitary camel. Two used to ride ou the camel, 

 while tl)e tliird walked. When the man on foot was tired, one of 

 the riders would dismount, and he who was walkinjj^ would mount : 

 the one who had dismounted would then walk till he got tired : then 

 the third would dismount and the man on foot would again ride, 

 and so on. They travelled on thus for about a month -and-a-half, 

 when one niirht, towards the middle of the night, they reached the 

 sea, without anyone being aware of the fact. The man who was 

 walking stayed behind for a little, for a call of nature; but the 



pi-oceeded 



dro 



The one who was 



