SOME CURRENT PUSHTU FOLK STORIES. 
405 
“ Here I am ! Here I am ! ” exclaimed Nim Kuni as he heard these words, 
and fetched them the melons. 
When they had eaten the fruit, and were satisfied, they said to Nim Kuni, 
“ Now you may go back again. Do not follow us.” 
But he again followed on their tracks by stealth. 
They came to an arid plain, in which was the house of an old hag, who fed 
upon the flesh of men. They put up for the night at her abode. When dusk fell, 
the six of them ate their meal, and the hag said, “Now you may go to sleep.” 
But they were afraid, thinking, “ Now will this old man-eating hag devour us.” 
They said among themselves, “ Jf only Brother Nim Kuni were here, he would 
devise some way of escape.” 
“ Be not dismayed ! ” cried Nim Kuni (coming forward). 
He said to the old hag, “ We will go to sleep after you shall have prepared for 
us a tasty fry.” 
When the six had eaten of the fry, the hag said, “ Now sleep.” 
Nim Kuni replied, “ We will sleep when you shall have brought us, in a sieve, 
water from the river, Mother.” 
The hag went off to the river. 
“ Off you go ! Flee ! ” exclaimed Nim Kuni to his brothers. And they did. 
The hag found she could not bring the water, and in a fury she came back to 
her dwelling. When she arrived, her guests had flown ! 
“What a trick to have played me ! ” she exclaimed, and started running in 
pursuit of them. 
Six of the brothers made good their escape and arrived in their own village. 
But the old hag overtook Nim Kuni on the road. As she came up, Nim Kuni took 
refuge in a hole. The hag seated herself on the brink. 
Then Nim Kuni thrust at her with his clothes-prop, so that it impaled her, 
and she died. 
Nim Kuni mounted his cat, and made his entrance into his own village. And 
on his entrance, he admitted that he had saved his brothers from death. The King 
his father was overjoyed, saying, “ How clever Nim Kuni is ! ” — and thereafter he 
was admitted to the companionship of his brothers. 
Finis. 
20 SEP 1913 
