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F. H. MALYON ON 
and made the bet (saying), “ If anyone can produce a water-melon, then whatever 
object his hand first shall fall on, shall be his.” 
Meanwhile the man’s wife sent word to her lover, saying, “Accept the wager 
with my husband. In such and such a place will you find water-melons. When you 
have won your wager, and may lay your hand on what you will, lay it on me.” 
Her lover received the message; and thereupon he rose , and going off to the 
mountain, fetched the water-melons back to the hujrah. 
“ I accept your wager,” he said to the husband. 
“ Out with the water-melons, then : let us see them,” said the simpleton. 
The lover produced the water-melons with alacrity : the simpleton of a husband 
when he saw them, recognized them as the melons he had seen upon the mountain. 
In his heart he was exceedingly vexed, and he said to himself, “In exchange for 
those loaves, what was the advice you received ? — that one should not disclose one’s 
affairs to a woman ! In the present circumstances, had I mentioned nothing to 
my wife, how could that man have known (the whereabouts of the water-melons). 
As it is, — unless I can manage to see the faqir about it, — it will be upon my 
wife that this man will lay his hand ! ” 
With this idea in his mind, the simpleton of the husband set out in search of 
the very same faqir who had counselled him already. 
He poured forth his story ; the faqir replied, “ Again, then, you have abandoned 
my advice.” 
“Never again,” protested the simpleton, “ will I act so,” and at length, on his 
making many entreaties, the faqir was appeased. 
The faqir said, “Get a ladder, and upon its rungs, tie pieces of silk. Then, 
when your wife’s lover comes to set his hand upon something), it will be upon the 
silk that his hand will first fall. Tiiereupon say to him, 'Devil fly away with youl 
Already you have passed over the silk on one rung! And over yet another! You are 
not going to take it all ! ’ ” 
The simpleton set off back to his home. He took a generous amount of silk, 
and fastened it on the rungs of the ladder. The woman was seated in full view in 
the (first story of the) tower, against (the coming of) her lover. 
Now the intention of the gallant, after his winning the wager, was that the first 
object he set his hand upon, should be the woman. 
When he reached the ladder, he grasped it, in order to ascend. Directly he had 
mounted a couple of rungs, the simpleton shouted out to him, “Hi, you grab-all ! 
So it’s the whole of my silk you would be carrying off home, is it ? ” 
And without more ado, he seized the lover by the heels and hauled him down. 
So,— thanks to the cleverness of the faqir,— he kept his wife for himself. * * * * * 
Even as the Amir Hamzeh says,—' Either be a man, or be a disciple of men.’ 
