Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/389

 Catreiie Folklore. 369

VI.

" There was once a man who had guests. His wife prepared food within. Then the man comes to the door, and says to it : * Bring some cutlets ! O my brother door, bring some rissoles!' The people who were sitting (there) were astonished, and asked him if he would sell the door. He replied : ' I don't want to sell it, for it brings me every- thing I order.' (One of the guests) said : ' You must sell the door.' So he answered : ' Buy it ! ' The other said : ' A hundred pounds ? ' ' No.' ' Two hundred pounds ? ' ' All right ! ' He took the money, and the (other) man carries the door to a camel and goes off to his village. And (there) he asked a lot of people to dinner, for he was delighted with the door. Then when all the guests were seated, he cried : ' O door, bring some cutlets ! ' But the door gives him nothing. ' O door, bring some ass's flesh ! ' But the door again gives him nothing. Nothing he asks the door for is given him. Then the people said to him : ' This fellow is mad, he has no sense.' Then they went away angry, because he had played a joke upon them. (So) another day he took the door back to his friend's house, and said : ' I don't want the door.' He answered : * Why ? ' He said : ' Because when I say, O door, bring some cutlets ! it does not bring them.' The other replied: 'You must have done something to the door, so that it gives you nothing. For that reason I won't take it.' So the fellow had to take the door again perforce.' " ^

' Kan fi wahid ragil, ukan er-ragil 'ando diyuf ; emrato 'amal akl min guwa. Ba'den 'r-ragil yigi gamb el-bab ; 'al lil-bab : " hat kebab ! akhtya bab, hat mahshi!" En-nas el-'a'adin ista'gibu ; 'alluh : " tibih el-bab?" 'Alio: "mush *auz abih, 'alashan kuUe haga akallim yegibli." 'Alluh: " Lazim tibahli el-bab." 'Alio: "Ishteri!" 'Alio: "Miyetgine?" 'Alio: "La." 'Alio: " Miyeten gine?" 'Alio: " Tajyib ; " Huwa misik el-feliis, wer, ragil hamil '1-bab 'ala gamal wesafar el-beled beta'o. Urragil 'amal 'azuma 'alashan nas ketir, 'alashan farhan bil-bab. Ba'den ba'd ma 'n-nas kullo 'a'adin, 'alio : "ya bab, hat kebab?" El-bab miish yiddilo haga : " Ya bab, hat lahm homara ; " miish yiddilo haga kaman. Kullo shai yutlub el-bab-

VOL. XI. 2 B