him; do not you, therefore, oppose it.” She, however, did not agree to my proposal; and continued to demand his sacrifice so obstinately, that I was compelled to yield. I bound the calf, and took the fatal knife to bury it in his throat, when he turned his eyes, filled with tears, so persuasively upon me, that I had no power to execute my intention. The knife fell from my hand, and I told my wife I was determined to have another calf. She tried every means to induce me to alter my mind; I continued firm, however, in my resolution, in spite of all she could say; promising, for the sake of appeasing her, to sacrifice this calf at the feast of Bairam on the following year.
The next morning my steward desired to speak with me in private. He informed me that his daughter, who had some knowledge of magic, wished to speak with me. On being admitted to my presence, she informed me how during my absence, my wife had turned the slave and my son into a cow and calf, that I had already sacrificed the cow, but that she could restore my son to his own shape, if I would give him to her for her husband, and allow her to visit my wife with the punishment her cruelty had deserved. To these proposals I gave my consent.
The damsel then took a vessel full of water, and pronouncing over it some words I did not understand, she threw the water over the calf, which instantly regained my son’s form.
“My son! my son!” I exclaimed, and embraced him with
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