Page:Swahili tales.djvu/197

Rh ring a key, open and go in; inside you will see a large chest filling up the room, on the chest there is a pot, and on the pot a brass basin, and in the basin water; and on the left hand side of it there is a red cock, and on the right hand side there is a knife inscribed with a charm. Then take the knife and kill the cock over the chest, and when you have killed it, pour out the water in the basin, and wash the knife. And so when you have completed these directions you will see the chest open, and inside it you will see a treasure, and this treasure the Shereef himself does not know of, and when you have got it you will be at peace. For Almighty God has made me an ape, to come and be the bringer of luck to you. And you yourself will dwell in peace, and I shall go my way. But you must do in this way, and if you do not, you will not find good, but only evil.'

"And I said, 'I will do as you have told me.'

"And I went and entered the house, and did as I had been directed to do. And as I opened the door, I heard the girl, the Shereef's daughter, my wife, whom I had married, say, 'The Jin has carried me off.' And when I had gone in, and come out again, and went to my wife's room, she was not there, the Jin had carried her off. So my state was like that of a madman.

"And the Shereef, her father, got the news, and came into the house directly, and came weeping and beating himself with his fists, and rending his clothes. And when he reached me there, he said, 'This it was that he wanted, for I found long ago that the Jin wanted to steal away my daughter from me, and I bound him by these charms, which you have dissolved; and those were medicines which bound him, so that he was turned into an ape, and you have came and loosed him, to lose me my daughter. And so now you had better get out of my sight, for I