Page:Swahili tales.djvu/249

Rh "Every day and every year here, the date-tree is watched, and our brothers only slept a moment, and they were ruined by their sleep. And when in a moment they woke up, the dates were eaten. Now we came away from the date-tree as long ago as one o'clock, and came here and slept, till now it is ten, are those dates to wait for us? Every day people sleep under the date-tree, and the bird comes and eats the dates, and goes away. Eh! We have slept here in the house, would the bird wait for us?"

"Oh! perhaps we are lucky, through the rain, and the darkness, and the storm, perhaps the bird did not come." And he said, "The rain, and the darkness, and the storm would not hinder the bird from coming and eating the dates." "Well, I am going to look." "Go you and look, I am not going anywhere, I know there are no dates; what should I go for? to be put out of my way for nothing, to get rain, and wind, and mist for nothing; and I know there are no dates on the tree, they have all been eaten by the bird. However, he is a fool that is going, he wants to deceive his soul; if you don't believe it, wait till he comes back."

He went as far as the date-tree, and he saw there were no dates, not even one, and the withered ones that had fallen down were not there. And he returned, and came to his brother. "Well, are there any dates?" And he said, "Oh, master, I say, any one who looked at that date-tree would say, if he was told that the date-tree bore this year, and even yesterday there were dates on it, he would not believe it, so destroyed are the dates: even the signs to tell that the date-tree has borne are not there."

And he said, "Did I not tell you in this very place that there was nothing? Now, give me advice: is there any plan now? Are we to go to our father, and go and tell him, the dates are eaten by the bird, we have not got