Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/397

 Cairene Folklore. 2)77

Here is one, however, which I heard last winter from my servant, Mustafa Ali : —

"Once there was a serpent of enormous size. The snake- hunters caught his wife and carried her away. Thereupon the serpent went to the court of the sultan, who was amazed to see such a huge snake appearing in his presence. He asked what the serpent wanted. But the serpent said nothing, and merely stood up. So the vizier suggested that all the snake-hunters should be fetched and ordered to bring their snakes with them. Accordingly they all came, and when the serpent saw his wife, he glided to her, and they kissed one another. Then they departed from the palace, but the serpent soon afterwards returned with a piece of pulp in his mouth which he presented to the sultan. The sultan could not make out what it was, but the serpent told him to put it in the ground. He did so, and up grew a water-melon {battikhd). This w^as the origin of the water-melon, and this is also the reason why snakes are so fond of the fruit. It is necessary to take and eat a water-melon as soon as it is cut, or else to tie the two parts of the section together, or to leave the knife in it, otherwise a snake will come and poison the fruit."

To this may be added two more stories of the same class : —

" In the sea there lives a creature half fish and half w^oman, the w^oman's half extending to the waist. When steamers were first invented they had no whistles, and orders were conveyed by word of mouth. But one day the order was shouted by the mermaid, and on its being replied to the pilot was told to lower his hand. The mermaid seized it immediately and dragged him into the water. Since then the steam-whistle has been employed."

" The Jews have a peculiar smell, which originated as follows: Once a plague carried off all the men, leaving only the women alive. They went to the prophet to ask