Page:Swahili tales.djvu/195

Rh wanting a wife, of coming to ask in marriage his daughter. He will say to you, 'You have neither root nor branches.' Tell him, 'My root is a thousand deenars, and my branches are a thousand deenars.' Then tell him all you want, and then give him root and branches, and he will consent, but he will want from you much wealth. What he asks of you, whatever it may be, give him, don't be stingy, and when the marriage is completed you will repay yourself all the wealth you have laid out and more. And we bid each other good-night, and I slept.

"And when it was light I did as he had told me. And I adorned myself, and my slaves, and my mule, and mounted and went to the market and saw the Shereef and saluted him, and he replied to me. And I said to him, 'Attend,' and I explained to him my news, and he answered me in the words the ape had said. And he said to me, 'You have neither root nor branches.' And I gave him two thousand deenars, a thousand for the root and a thousand for the branches. And he consented, and gave me his contract.

"And he said to me, 'A thousand deenars is the dowry, and a thousand deenars the clothes, and a thousand deenars my turban.' And I gave him five thousand deenars, and I took out a thousand deenars and gave to the bystanders, and I was married. When the marriage was finished I went and told the ape that my marriage was finished.

"And he said to me, 'Your circumstances will be prosperous to you, and ask about the hour for your going into the house, I have news which I wish to come and tell you.' And I went and inquired about the hour for going into the house, and then I told him, 'I have it.'

"So he said to me, 'The night that you enter the house as you pass the first door, look into the court, you will see a door to the left; there is a ring on the door and in the