Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/343

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There were a brother and sister who kept a cow. They dwelt in a deserted place, and the brother used to go with the cow, while the sister used to sit in the house, and at night they met in the zariba. The sister was of great beauty, and men asked for her, but her brother refused to let the girl be married. One day some men came into the house for the girl, and they conversed; and the brother came in in the evening and found that men had come for his sister, but he said nothing. The next day the men returned to the girl and said, "We think of killing your brother. When is he engaged?" And the girl said, "When he is milking the cow." In the evening they came as he was milking the cow, and jumped in over the fence, and when he saw the enemy he drew his sword. His sister seized his hair; but he cut it off, and jumped over the fence, which cut off his genitals, and he escaped. He went to a town where there was a girl tied to a tree, and he said, "Who are you, girl?" and she said, "My father is the Sultan of the town." And he said, "Why are you tied up here?" and she said, "I am tied up for a dragon which will come and eat me." Then he said, "When does it come?" and she said, "In the evening." And he said, "When the dragon comes, what will it do?" and she said, "First it will drink the water, and afterwards eat me," and he replied, "Very well." Then the dragon came and went down to the water, but the young man drew his sword and struck it on the head and it died. Then he led away the girl and brought her to the town, and the people of the town came running to him as he led the girl, and they said, "What is this?" and he said, "I have killed the dragon."

Then he was brought to the Sultan, and they said, "This man has killed the dragon." And the Sultan bade him marry his daughter. So thereupon the man married her.

A Sultan had a daughter, and the daughter used to be taught