no other (son) he wished to kill the serpent. One made for him a brick of iron, and he went into the desert. Whenever he found a serpent he killed it; so he walked along and met a shêkh. The shêkh said to him: ‘Where are you going?’ He replied: ‘I am walking and killing all the serpents.’ He asked: ‘Why?’ He answered: ‘Because it has killed my son.’ (The shêkh) said to him: ‘Poor fellow!’ He said: ‘Come with me.’ They walked together until they came to a cave. When they reached the cave the shêkh called to the serpent. When the serpent came he said to it: ‘Have you drunk of the water of the Nile?’ He answered: ‘Yes, I have drunk twice.’ He said to it: ‘Return to your place.’ The serpent returned to its place. They left the cave and walked to another cave. The shêkh called to the serpent which was in the cave. The serpent came. The shêkh said to it: ‘Have you drunk the water of the Nile?’ He replied: ‘Yes, I have drunk once.’ He said to it: ‘Return to your place.’ When the serpent had returned to its place they passed on and came to a third cave. When they reached the cave the shêkh called to a serpent; there comes a serpent monstrously big. The shêkh asked the serpent saying: ‘Have you drunk the water of the Nile?’ The serpent answered: ‘Is there a Nile, is there water?’ He said to it: ‘Yes, there is a Nile, there is water.’ He replied: ‘I did not know there is a Nile or water.’ The shekh said to the man: ‘Strip off the covering of the iron’; he added: ‘Put it on the ground, it and the bar.’ The man took off the covering of (the) iron and put both on the ground. The shêkh said to him: ‘Now you will see.’ The shêkh said to the serpent: ‘You can blow upon the iron.’ When the snake blew upon the iron the iron became a red fire. They waited till it becomes cold; they took the iron (and) found (only) dust. The shêkh said to him: ‘Poor fellow, where will you go with your iron? See, a single serpent has made the iron nothing but dust;
