and walked to the house. He knocked at the door; his wife said: ‘Who is it?’' He replied: ‘I!’ She answered: ‘All right!’ She came down hastily (and) opened (the door) for him. When she had opened it for him they went upstairs. He laid down the basket and sat down. He said to her: ‘Let us have dinner.’ She brought him meat, vegetables and pigeons. When he had dined and washed the hands he said to her: ‘There is not even a small measure here’ (the kêla holds only the twelfth part of an ardeb). She replied: ‘No!’ She said to him: ‘I will go to your brother’s house; we will get the measure from there.’ He answered: ‘Very good.’ When she went to his brother’s house she knocked at the door; she said to them: ‘I want the measure because we are measuring a little wheat.’ The man replied: ‘All right.’ He said to her: ‘Is my brother come?’ She answered: ‘Yes.’ He said to his wife: ‘Give her the measure and give her a little food for their sakes.’ She gave them a bason full of cooked food and two loaves of bread. When she had gone and given her the measure she smeared the measure with honey in order to discover what they are measuring. (The other woman) took the measure and went home. When they measured the money, the money stuck to the bottom of the measure. When she brought back the measure his brother’s wife looked at the measure; she found the money sticking to the measure. She said to her husband: ‘See, this is not corn; it’s money!’ He replied: ‘How so?’ She answered: ‘I put honey in the measure in order to see what they are measuring; I have found ten pounds sticking to the measure. You must go to your brother and see where he has got the money from; you must get some like him.’ He rose in the morning early; he went to his brother. He said to him: ‘Good morning!’ He sat down while they drank coffee together; when they had drunk the coffee he asked, saying: ‘My brother, where have you got the money from?’ He replied:
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Cairene and Upper Egyptian Folk-Lore.
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