Page:Turkish fairy tales and folk tales (1901).djvu/249

 themselves in caves, or behind houses, or under haycocks and haystacks, or in some hole or corner, but Aleodor hid himself in such a way that the damsel began to fear that she would be vanquished. Then it occurred to her to turn her eye-glass towards the sea, and she saw him beneath a heap of mussels. But you must know that her eye-glass was a magic eye-glass.

"I see thee, thou rascal," cried she, "how thou hast bothered me, to be sure! From being a man thou hast made thyself a mussel, and hidden thyself at the bottom of the sea."

This he couldn't deny, so of course he had to come up again.

But she said to the Emperor: "Methinks, dear father, this youth will suit me. He is nice and comely. Even if I find him all three times let me have him, for he is not stupid like the others. Why, thou canst see from his figure even how different he is."

"We shall see," replied the Emperor.

On the second day Aleodor bethought him of the crow, and immediately the crow stood before him, and said to him: "What dost thou want, my master?"

"Look now, senseless one! what has happened to me. Canst thou not show me a way out of it?"