Page:The Grey Fairy Book.djvu/67

 horror, and said, ‘She is really a donkey, and not a woman at all!’

And he left her, and went home.

For two days poor Dschemila wandered about alone, weeping bitterly. When her cousin drew near his native town, he began to think over his conduct, and to feel ashamed of himself.

‘Perhaps by this time she has changed back to her proper shape,’ he said to himself, ‘I will go and see!’

So he made all the haste he could, and at last he saw her seated on a rock, trying to keep off the wolves, who longed to have her for dinner. He drove them off and said, ‘Get up, dear cousin, you have had a narrow escape.’

Dschemila stood up and answered, ‘Bravo, my friend. You persuaded me to fly with you, and then left me helplessly to my fate.’

‘Shall I tell you the truth?’ asked he.

‘Tell it.’

‘I thought you were a witch, and I was afraid of you.’

‘Did you not see me before my transformation? and did you not watch it happen under your very eyes, when the ogre bewitched me?’

‘What shall I do?’ said Dschemil. ‘If I take you into the town, everyone will laugh, and say, “Is that a new kind of toy you have got? It has hands like a woman, feet like a woman, the body of a woman; but its head is the head of an ass, and its hair is fur.

‘Well, what do you mean to do with me?’ asked Dschemila. ‘Better take me home to my mother by night, and tell no one anything about it.’

‘So I will,’ said he.

They waited where they were till it was nearly dark, then Dschemil brought his cousin home.

‘Is that Dschemil?’ asked the mother when he knocked softly.