Page:Swahili tales.djvu/109

Rh seven days; if I am not back in seven days he will not leave the house till I come." And he said, "Very good, farewell."

And the Sultan said, "Do you not want people to attend you?" It said, "I was sent from our place with rich property, and entered the wilderness, and in the wilderness there is nothing good, every evil thing comes by origin from the wilderness, and I came here by myself without fearing. Much rather now, when I have nothing to carry, shall I be afraid? Farewell, master, I am going."

And it went and it went through the forest and the wilderness, till it arrived at a town, and that town was large with fine houses. And it saw that the town was bowed down, and it was struck with astonishment. It could neither go forward nor back, and it bent down, and considered, and thought, and looked, and could not resolve on anything, except to go into the town. And it went, and followed the main road. And at the end of the main road there was a great house, exceedingly beautiful, so that there was none like it in the town; and it saw the house was built of sapphire, and of turquoise, and beautiful marbles.

The gazelle was struck with astonishment, and thought and pondered. When it had collected its thoughts it said, "This is the house for my master, and I will call up my courage and go and look at the people who are in this house, whether there are any people or no. For I entered at the end of the town, and till I got here in the midst of the town I have not seen any one at all; in this town I have seen neither man nor woman, old nor young, till my arrival here. So then I will call up my courage and go into this house." And it said, "If I die I die, if I live I live; for here now where I am I have now no stratagem, for the place I came from is far off; and so if anything has been empowered to kill me, let it kill me."