374 Cairene Folklore.
until at the end of forty days he was able to walk as much as he wanted. Then he ordered the man to be brought to him ; and he was brought. Then he said to him : ' The forty days are ended, but I don't die.' The peasant replied : ' Nevertheless you have grown thin.' So the sultan gave him plenty of bakshish^ ^
XI.
" There is a man who was married to a (wife), but the man was terribly irritated by his wife. When he wanted to go to a place, she would say : ' I will go with you,' so (at last) out of irritation he told her that he was going on the pilgrimage to Mecca. She said : ' I will go with you too.' They marched along the road of pilgrimage till they came to a well. He said to her: ' I am going to get some water.' She replied : ' I will go with you too,' She went with him to the well ; the man drank, went down into it first and filled a skin (with water) ; then she descended after him in order to drink ; the man gives her a shove and she falls into the well. In the well was an afrit (demon) ; when the woman had descended into the well the afrit was irritated by her, and escaped out of it. The husband walks along a
' Kan fi wahid sultan tikhin ketir, mayegdarsh yemshi 'alashan huwa tikhin: kulle wahid hakim yiddilu dawa 'alashan yigi nahif; ma-infash el-dawa; uba'den yekassar raso birhayit arba'yin hakim. Fi wahid fellah meskin : shaf kuU er-rus fil-bab beta' 's-seraya : kallim lil-bowab : "'alashan e 'r-rus ma'alla'in kida ? " 'al : " 'alashan es-sultan 'ayyan ; kulle wahid hakim ma- infashi, yeksar raso." 'alio : " warrini es-sultan waddilo dawa." 'alio: "rah, ya shekh ? yekassar rasak enta kaman ; " 'al : " ma'alesh ; izakan ana manfash yekassar rasi." Waddiih 'and es-sultan. Es-sultan kallimmo : "Enta hakim?" 'alio: " aiwa, an' hakim." 'alio: " 'auz dawa agi nahif; magdarsh a'af, magdarsh a'um." 'alio: "enta ba'd arba'in yom lazim temiit." 'alio: " Saheh ba'd arba'in yom an' amut?" 'alio: "aiwa." Ba'den kallim 's-sultan : " Waddu fil-hebs !" Kul yom yigi nahif shwojya min kutr el-fikr beta'o lirhayit arba'in yom es sultan kan yegdar yemshi ze mo 'auz. Es-sultan kallim: "Hat er-ragil hina;" gabu er-ragil. 'Alio: arba'in yom khalas, lakin ana mamutish." 'Alio : " Enta kaman get nahif." Uba'den iddalo bakshish ketir.
