Black Tales for White Children Part 13

So they went and took Mwanamizi and brought her to the palace. When the Sultan saw her he thought her very beautiful.

So he said, "This woman is too beautiful for a beggar. I will take her for my wife."

Now when that poor man returned from begging he could not find his wife; then the neighbours told him, "The woman has been taken by the Sultan to his palace."

So he threw down his bag and went round to the palace, and rushed in before the Sultan and asked him, "Where is my wife whom you have taken?"

The Sultan replied, "Get out of my sight, you foolish fellow, or I will order my soldiers to beat you."

Then he said, "If you will not give me back my wife, take off my ornaments which she is wearing and return them to me, that I may go."

At that the Sultan called his soldiers and had him turned out of the palace.

After that the poor man went under the Sultan's window and sang--

"Oh listen, master, unto me: My wife I carved from yonder tree; I carved her well, with zeal untold, And decked her out with fetters gold.

These ornaments and jewels fine, Oh, give them back, for they are mine; And, Mwanamizi, let me go."

When the woman heard the poor man's song she was bathed in tears.

The Sultan then said to her, "Take off those silly ornaments and throw them to him, that he may go away. I will give you things tenfold more fine and rare."

The woman did not want to take off those things.

The poor man sang again--

"Oh listen, master, unto me: I carved my wife from yonder tree."

Then the woman took off her ornaments and threw them down to him, saying--

"The ornaments are thine, The golden fetters fine; Take them, oh, take them, Makami, and go."

She cried then very much, and took off all her things, till there was left a single charm round her neck.

The Sultan said, "Take off all his ornaments quickly and throw them to him, that he may go." But Mwanamizi did not want to take off that charm, for it was her soul. Then the poor man sang again, and Mwanamizi unfastened the charm from her neck and threw it to him, and at that moment she turned into a tree there in the house of the Sultan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "AT THAT MOMENT SHE TURNED INTO A TREE"]

The poor man sighed and went back to his house, but the Sultan in his palace was seized with great fear.

The telling of the story ends here.

XV

BINTI ALI THE CLEVER

Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and that Sultan had seven children, all sons, and that Wazir had seven children, all daughters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Seven sons]

Those daughters of the Wazir had no mother; their mother had died, and they were very poor.

The sons of the Sultan used to laugh at the daughters of the Wazir, saying, "You poor people, what do you eat? It is our father who pays your father his wages, and how do they suffice for you seven people who are in one house? You poor creatures, you have not even a brother to help you."

Now those girls used to plait baskets and sell them. They lived for many days like that, their work being to cry every day, and when they came out of school they used to plait and sell their baskets. Till one day the youngest daughter, who was called Binti Ali, was sitting with her father, and she said to him, "What advice have you to give us, father?"

Her father asked her, "Why, my child?"

She said to him, "We are only seven girls; we have neither husbands nor brothers. Should anything happen to you, who will be our headman?

Father, you must arrange to have a ship built for me, and it must be ready in the s.p.a.ce of three years."

Her father said, "All this wealth, where shall I get it from, that I may build a ship?"

She answered him, "G.o.d, the merciful, will provide."

In the morning the Wazir arose and went to the Sultan and said to him, "Give me help, for my youngest child wants a vessel built for her."

The Sultan brought out nine lakhs of rupees and gave them to his Wazir.

Then the Wazir sought for workmen, and told them to build a ship and have it ready in three years' time.

Now that child, Binti Ali, was very beautiful, more beautiful than all her sisters. Many men had come to seek her in marriage, but she had refused them, saying, "I am poor; my father has not wealth to suffice for my wedding."

At the end of three years the ship was ready, and her father called her, "Eh, my child, Binti Ali." And she answered him, "Lebeka, father," which means "Here I am" in the language of to-day; but long, long ago, Lebek was the name of the G.o.d worshipped by the Phoenicians at the temple of Baal-lebek (Bal bek).

Her father said to her, "Your ship is finished and ready for you."

So she went to see it, and found that it was built in a wondrously fine way. When she returned she said to her father, "Now you must find me a captain and sailors, and you must put on the vessel enough food to last three years."

So he found a crew for her, and provisioned the ship and returned. Then she said, "Father, now you must buy for me fine raiment, a sultan's turban, a shirt and coat, and a sword and dagger. Also you must get for me sandals of gold braid and two men's gold rings."

So her father searched for one hour and half a second, and then returned and said, "My child, the things you want are ready."

Then he asked her, "My child, where are you going to? Tell me."

She said, "Father, have you no understanding? I am going to the country of the Sultan Makami."

Her father said to her, "My child, you are already lost. Do you not know that a woman may not go to the country of Sultan Makami? Any other than a male who enters the country is put to death."

Binti Ali said to him, "Father, have you no wits, you, a full-grown man, who rule all this land? Do you not see that all these clothes which you have bought for me are men's clothes? I want to go and see Makami's country."

Her father said, "I do not approve of this journey you are setting out upon."

His daughter replied, "What becomes of me is in the hands of G.o.d."