Page:Swahili tales.djvu/189

Rh took me up, and put on my shoes, and my clothes. Then I told her, 'Give me my stick,' and she gave me my stick. And I said to her, 'Keep behind and push me.' And she kept behind and pushed me, and I lifted up one foot, and she pushed me, and I lifted one foot till we arrived.

"And I met with him and gave him my hand, and he asked after my state. And then he told me, 'Your deposit will come to you in the house.' And when we had met, we set out again, and my mother pushed me until we arrived at our house. And I reached it and got back to my place and lay down.

"In a little while I saw a man come in, and he came and gave me a monkey. And he said, 'With the Sheikh Abalmathfár's compliments.' And I took the monkey and let him go, and the man who had brought the monkey went out.

"And I called my mother and showed it to her, and said, 'The Sheikh Abalmathfár has brought me something great; here at home ten monkeys are sold for a dirhem, and he for five dirhems has brought me one.'

"I had not yet had time to finish saying these words to my mother, when I heard a man at the door calling Hodi! And I said, 'Come in.' And he came in with some keys, and gave me the keys, and I saw porters behind him, and they came in and brought some wonderfully big chests. And he said to me, 'Those are the keys of these chests.' And I asked him, 'Why are these chests brought to me?' And he said, 'These are your deposit which you gave to him, to go and buy you merchandize.'

"And I said, 'The Sheikh Abalmathfár had no call to make game of me, who am a poor man. I am a youth before him, and he is a full-grown man before me. He has no call then to make game of me. What was it that I