Page:Swahili tales.djvu/377

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HASSEEBU KAREEM ED DEEN.
357

them. And I said, 'I have them.' And she said, 'Give them to me, whom they belong to; I want to go away.' And I said, 'I love you very much, I want to marry you,' 'I want to go away to my father.' And I said, 'You will not go.'

"And her sisters flew and went away, and I took her to our house, and my father married me to her. And he said to me, 'Do not give her these clothes, hide them well; if the owner gets them, she will fly away to her home.' And I dug in the ground and put them there.

"Till one day when I had gone out walking, she dug them up, and put them on herself, and flew up and stopped on the roof, and said to her slave, 'When your master comes, tell him that I am gone away home; if he loves me let him follow me.' And she flew, and went her way.

"When I came I was told, 'Your wife has gone away home.' And I wandered, following her, many years.

"Till when I arrived near a town I saw some people, and they asked me, 'Who are you?' And I said, 'I am Jan Shah.' 'The son of whom?' And I said, 'The son of Taighamus.' And they said to me, 'Are you he that married our mistress?' And I asked, 'Who is your mistress?' And they said, 'Seyedati Shems.' And I said, 'I am he.' And my heart rejoiced exceedingly.

"And they took me to their town. And she said to her father, 'This is my husband who married me.' And I was much loved, and stayed long.

"And her father said to me, 'Take your wife, if you wish, to go home.' And we were given genii, and they carried us three days. And we arrived, and stayed a year.

"And I said, 'Let us go and see our father.' And my wife said to me, 'Let us go.' Till when we arrived