SOME CURRENT PERSIAN TALES. 389 



I'd better answer her and get hold of the eatables." Accordingly he called out, " Yes." 

 The woman came forward, mounted the platform and putting her arm around the man's 

 neck said, " May I be thy sacrifice ! Hast thou brought the shoes and the 

 chintz?" The man was at a loss what to say. He thought that if he said "No" 

 the woman might not give him the food. He therefore answered, " Yes ; I've 

 brought them ; they are at home ; in the morning I'll give them to you." When 

 the man rose she said to him, "Muham Ja'far! I adjure thee to give me the 

 shoes early as I want to wear them at the wedding." The man replied, " Lady, excuse 

 me ; I'm not Muham Ja'far. I am Hajl Husain of Isfahan." The woman exclaimed, 

 " I'll play hell with you," and, putting both hands on the stable door, she shrieked out 

 " Thieves ! thieves ! ' three times. People with sticks in their hand came hurriedly 

 towards the stable from the house where the festivities x were taking place, and the man 

 saw that if they caught him it would be all up with him. Suddenly with both hands 

 he gave the woman a push and sent her flying into the garden on to the soft snow, and 

 escaping outside made for the gateway of the fort. The gate was locked. He was in 

 fear of his life ; suddenly he espied some steps in a corner of the .covered gateway. He 

 mounted the steps and found himself in an upper room. Sitting down in a corner he 

 watched the door of the stable below. He saw lights brought. " Woman," said the 

 crowd that had collected, " where is the thief ? There's no thief here at all." " What 

 answer," he wondered, " will the woman give ? " She said, " I was just crossing over 

 when I heard a noise coming from the stable and thought it was a thief." They said, 

 " It must have been this horse you heard. It evidently belongs to some gentleman. 

 He has tied it up here and gone inside to join the wedding party." They then went 

 about their business. The man thought he had better remain quiet where he was till 

 they had scattered, and that he would then go and lie down by the side of his horse, and 

 mount it at day-break and go off. He was still thinking, when the sound of foot-steps 

 on the stairs reached him, and for fear lest it was some one still looking for him, he hid in 

 a corner. A woman put her head in at the door and called out gently, " Muham Ja'far ! 

 Muham Ja'far ! ' three times. He guessed it was the same woman and replied, 

 ' Yes." The woman then came forward and putting her arm round the man's neck 

 said, ' ' May I be your sacrifice ! You were here and I had nearly been the cause of a 

 murder out there." The. man said, " Yes." The woman said, " Come, tell me, have 

 you brought me the shoes and the chintz ? ' ' The man recollecting what had happened 

 in the stable said, " I've brought them and I've had the shoes tipped — but they 

 are at home; they are not here with me." The woman said, "Why didn't you 

 bring them with you?" The man answered, "I thought perhaps I mightn't 

 see you, so I left them at home. I'll bring them in the morning." When the 

 man got up, the woman said, "Muham Ja'far, I adjure thee to give me the 

 shoes early that I may wear them at the wedding." The man replied, " Lady ! ex- 

 cuse me ; in the stable just now I humbly represented that I wasn't Muham Ja'far 

 but Hajl Husain of Isfahan come to collect revenue. I lost my way and so came here. 



1 Vide note 8, page 405 . 



