Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/117

Rh So he mounted. The horse took him to the castle of the goblin. Forty houris came to meet him. They asked,—"Where is the goblin?' The man replied,—"I killed the goblin like a dog, and, lo! he lies on the road!" Then he asks,—"How did the goblin bring you here?"—"We are the daughters of forty kings," they reply, "and he brought us here by force. You have killed the goblin. We will all be your wives." "Will you?" "We will."

Now the goblin had untold treasures. They open a door; there is a room full of jewels and pearls. They open another; it is dripping with gold. Another, and silver streams out. "Wallah, this is fine!" exclaims the man.

Again he goes a-hunting. Much time passes, little time passes. Then one day, after his return from hunting, he seats himself, and, sighing, cries,—"Ah, ah, alas!" The forty wives gather around him, and ask,—"What is lacking? We are forty houris, and we are all your wives. Have you lost your appetite? Why do you lament?" "You are sweet," he replied, "and my mother is sweet; you in your place, my mother in hers. My mother came to my mind, and so I sighed." Then they said,—"Rise, take a load of gold to her, and let your mother have it." The man replied,—"I will go and bring my mother here." And they said,—"Go, bring her."

The son goes, and brings his mother. The mother finds out about everything from her son. The son goes a-hunting. The mother becomes the mother-in-law of the wives. The mother knows magic. The son is away. The mother goes and uses medicines and remedies on the goblin. She comes and says to the women,—"May your hair be shorn from your heads. You were glad that the goblin was dead. Take a carpet, and let us go and fetch the goblin." They take it, and return. The mother keeps the goblin hidden, and treats him until he regains his strength. The mother makes love to the goblin, but she fears her son.

Then the mother says to the goblin,—"May your sun be cut off! (Curse you!) Show my son a road with no returning, that he may go away, and not come back." "Very well," says the goblin. Then the mother takes dry losh (wafers), spreads them in