Johha to reclaim it, the knave said that he regretted his inability to send it back, but the utensil had unfortunately died and been devoured by hyenas. “What!” exclaimed the owner angrily, “do you think me fool enough to believe that?” ‘ Well, my friend,” was the reply, “ wonderful things sometimes happen. You allowed yourself to be persuaded that your tanjera, for instance, gave birth to a young one; why, then, should you not believe that your dist, which is simply a grown-up tanjera, should die.” In the circumstances, the argument seemed unanswerable, especially when, after searching through Johha’s house, the cauldron could not be found.
Johha’s neighbours, incensed by such practical jokes, put their heads together. They succeeded in persuading the joker to accompany them on an expedition to a lonely part of the coast. Having got him there, they told him they were going to drown him unless he swore a solemn oath to leave off his pranks, and “ eat salt” with them. “I dare not eat salt with you,” replied the rascal, “ because I have a covenant and have eaten salt with the Jan. I shall not break my compact with them just to please you.” “Very well,” said his neighbours, “you have your choice. We shall bind you to this tree, and leave you here till midnight, when, unless you change your mind, and eat salt with us, we shall drown you.” “Do your worst,” said Johha. Whereupon they bound him fast to the tree and went away.
Johha cudgelled his brains to devise some means of
