Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/212

 204 while I go on to get some food." He went to the bazaar and bought bread and ghee, and then he thought that he would buy some meat, too. So he went to a butcher named Hanūd, and asked for some meat. The butcher said, "Come along, I'll give you some meat," and he made him pass on into the inside of his house, and there he bound him and left him. Now the practice of this butcher Hanud was this: every day he used to kill a man, and mix up his flesh with the flesh of sheep and goats, and sell it.

Now, as the wazir was a long time away, the prince followed him, and came into the town. It so happened that the king of that town had just died, leaving no son. The palace door was shut, and on it this legend was written: "He whose hand shall open this door shall be king of this city." The prince came and read this, and then, saying "Bismi'llāh", he pushed the door, and the door opened. The prince entered, and seated himself on the throne, and became king of the land. The people heard the news that a new king had come, and the tidings reached the wazir, who had been imprisoned by Hanūd, and he said to Hanūd: "Get me an ell of cloth, and I will make a design of a handkerchief on it; take it and present it to the new king, and he will reward you." Hanud fetched the cloth for him, and he drew a design on it, and wrote these words in it:—

He took the kerchief and carried it to the king. The king rewarded Hanūd, and then he wrote as follows on the kerchief, and gave it back to him:—