Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/387

 Cairene Folklore. 367

and bought a sheep ; he bought also a drum and bagpipes ; he put them into a saddlebag and went to the Sultan. Then the vizier said: 'What is all this, Abu-Nowas?' He replied : ' I want food, because the people who are dead have had nothing to eat.' He took the food with him, and then they took him to the well. Then Abu-Nowas said that the ape would kill him if he is let slowly down into the well. And the people say : ' All right ! ' When he is let slowly down into the well, he saw the ape in the well; he gave him pieces of meat one by one, and the ape grows satiated. The people above say : ' It's all over ! Abu-Now^s has been dropped into the well, and the ape has eaten him ! ' But Abu-Nowas took the drum, and when the ape grows hungry he gives him a piece of the flesh. The people come to see Abu-Nowas ; they see him making a merry noise at the bottom of the well. Then the people say to the Sultan : ' Always when you throw a man into the well the ape eats him at once, but now Abu-Nowas beats on his kettledrum, and plays with the bagpipes in the well.' The Sultan went to the well and said : ' Abu-Nowas ! ' Abu-Nowas answered : ' What do you want ? ' He says : ' Come ! ' Abu-Nowas replies : ' No, I don't want to, I am contented (here).' Then the people let down ropes and draw Abu- Nowas up from the well. And he said : ' I was contented in the well ; why do you come to me ? ' " ^

' Wahid yom es-Sultan kallim I'abn-Nowas : " qalet es-sitt, bil-lel yitla, minnah rihah." Qallo Abu-Nowas : " Ya sultan, ni'mil wahid shai wenhotte 'r-riha barra." Ba'den gab masura werah el-askar ellazim tigu bil-lel ' and es- seraya beta' es-sultan : lamma tisma'u el-rhaftr min foq lazim ti'milu teshrifa ; uba'den bil-lel es-sultan nayim : es-sitt qalet : " yitla' minni riha." Ba'den el- askar ti'mil teshrifa, wes-sultan qal : "Khabare?" El-askar qalet: "Abu- Nowas i'mil kida." Fis-subh es-sultan qal lil-wezir : " Mush 'auz ashuf Abu- Nowas ebeden." El-wezir qal lis-sultan : " izakan mush 'auz tashuf Abu- Nowas, nirmih fil-bir, 'Hi fl el-qird yakulo." Lamma yigi Abu-Nowas fis-subh el-wezir qal 1' Abu-Nowas : "Es-sultan yirmik fll-bir en-nehar-da ! " Abu- Nowas qallo ba'd etnen telata sa'a yigt. Uba'den rah i.shteri wahid khariif ; ishteri wahid darabiika, ishtori wahid zommara ; hatto fil-khorg werah 'and es-sultan. Ba'den el-wezir qal : " Khabar e, y-Abii-Nowas?" Qallo: "'Auz