“ Then the sultan said to Keejeepaa, “Take some of my soldiers, and let them convey these things to Sultan Daaraaee, that he may dress himself and come to me.”
But the gazelle answered: “Ah, my master, can I take these soldiers with me and put Sultan Daaraaee to shame? There he lies, beaten and robbed, and I would not have any one see him. I can take everything by myself.”
“Why,” exclaimed the sultan, “here is a horse, and there are clothes and arms. I don’t see how a little gazelle can manage all those things.” ”

“ I’ll listen to every word,” said the man. “I can’t help listening!”
“Well, you see, it’s just this way,” said Keejeepaa; “I’ve allowed you to become my master, and I can not run away from you; so I want you to make an agreement with me, and I will make you a promise, and keep it.”
“Say on,” said his master.
“Now,” continued the gazelle, “one doesn’t have to be acquainted with you long, in order to discover that you are very poor. ”

“ When the old woman heard these words, she stood and stared, and was unable to move. As for his wife, her face became sad, and the tears began to start from her eyes; observing which, her husband said, sharply, “What’s the matter with you, sultan’s daughter?” [144]
The lady replied, “A man’s madness is his undoing.”
“Why do you say that, mistress?” he inquired.
“Ah,” said she, “I am grieved, my husband, at your treatment of Keejeepaa. Whenever I say a good word for the gazelle you dislike to hear it. I pity you that your understanding is gone.” ”

“ We eat rice; isn’t red millet good enough for a gazelle that cost only a dime?”
“Oh, but he is no ordinary gazelle. He should be as dear to you as the apple of your eye. If sand got in your eye it would trouble you.” ”

“ Those who are to escape will escape, and those who are to die will die; but if I die, let those who escape tell my mother and father not to grieve for me.”
But his attendants said, “Oh, come along, master; none of us will die, please God.”
So they went on their hands and knees till they were close up, and then they said to Mkaaah Jeechonee, “Give us your plan, master;” but he said, “There is no plan, only let all fire at once.”
Well, they fired all at once, and immediately the elephant jumped up and charged at them. ”

“ You may think uncivilized negroes are pretty ignorant people, but the white man who is supposed to have first told the story of “The House that Jack Built” was a mighty poor genius compared with the unknown originator of “Goso, the Teacher,” who found even inanimate things that were endowed with speech, which the pupils readily understood and were not astonished to hear; while “Puss in Boots” was not one-half so clever as the gazelle that ran things for Haamdaanee. It would be a severe task to rattle off “Goso” as you do “The House that Jack Built.” ”

“ At this Haamdaanee turned and said: “Why do you push me on the cheek, when I’ve done nothing to you? I do not know you. I call this man, to transact some business with him, and you, who are strangers, step in to spoil our trade.”
He then untied the knot in the corner of his ragged coat, produced the dime, and, handing it to Moohaadeem, said, “Please, good man, let me have a gazelle for that.” ”

“ Now, Simba had been keeping an eye open for Soongoora since the day he caught Bookoo, the big rat, and, suspecting that he was up there with Kobay, he said to himself, “I’ve got him this time, sure.” [38]
Seeing that they were caught again, Soongoora said to the tortoise: “Wrap me up in the straw, tell Simba to stand out of the way, and then throw me down. I’ll wait for you below. He can’t hurt you, you know.”
“All right,” said Kobay; but while he was wrapping the hare up he said to himself: “This fellow wants to run away, and leave me to bear the lion’s anger. He shall get caught first.” ”

“ Simba, who owned the honey, came out again, and, looking up, inquired, “Who are you, up there?”
Soongoora whispered to Kobay, “Keep quiet;” but when the lion repeated his question angrily, Kobay became suspicious, and said: “I will speak. You told me this honey was yours; am I right in suspecting that it belongs to Simba?”
So, when the lion asked again, “Who are you?” he answered, “It’s only us.” The lion said, “Come down, then;” and the tortoise answered, “We’re coming.” ”

“ So in the morning every kite went to church. There was not one person left at home except old Koongooroo.
When his neighbors called for him they found him lying down. “Why!” they exclaimed with surprise, “are you not going to church to-day?”
“Oh,” said he, “I wish I could; but my stomach aches so badly I can’t move!” And he groaned dreadfully.
“Ah, poor fellow!” said they; “you will be better in bed;” and they left him to himself.
As soon as everybody was out of sight he flew swiftly to his soldiers and cried, “Come on; they’re all in the church.” ”

“ As soon as Mkaaah Jeechonee saw it he said, “Ah, this is the noondah! This is it! This is it!” And they all agreed that it was it.
So they dragged the elephant three days [172] to their town, and then the youth began singing,
“Oh, mother, this is he,
The noondah, eater of the people.”
He was, naturally, quite upset when his mother replied, “My son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people.” She further said: “Poor boy! what trouble you have been through. All the people are astonished that one so young should have such a great understanding!” ”

“ Never mind her talk; and as to this gazelle, tell him to stop bothering me and putting on style, as if he were the sultan. I can’t eat, I can’t drink, I can’t sleep, because [145] of that gazelle worrying me with his messages. First, the gazelle is sick; then, the gazelle doesn’t like what he gets to eat. Confound it! If he likes to eat, let him eat; if he doesn’t like to eat, let him die and be out of the way. My mother is dead, and my father is dead, and I still live and eat; shall I be put out of my way by a gazelle, that I bought for a dime, telling me he wants this thing or that thing? ”

“ Not a cent.” [101]
“Oh, I don’t know that,” said the countryman; “he may have plenty, for all I know.”
“Not he,” said they.
“Don’t you see for yourself,” continued one of them, “that he is on the dust heap? Every day he scratches there like a hen, trying to get enough grains of millet to keep himself alive. If he had any money, wouldn’t he buy a square meal, for once in his life? Do you think he would want to buy a gazelle? What would he do with it? He can’t find enough food for himself, without looking for any for a gazelle.” ”

“ He never gets a single good thing from you.”
But he turned to the old woman and said, “Go and tell that nuisance of a gazelle to die eleven times if he chooses to.”
“Now, husband,” persisted the lady, “what has Keejeepaa done to you? Has he done you any wrong? Such words as yours people use to their enemies only. Surely the gazelle is not your enemy. [147] All the people who know him, great and lowly, love him dearly, and they will think it very wrong of you if you neglect him. Now, do be kind to him, Sultan Daaraaee.”
The gazelle wept with the old woman. ”

“ The lion, the hyena, and the rabbit go in for a little farming.
When they had gone some distance the rabbit stopped again. [50]
“Aha!” said Feesee; “Keeteetee has stopped again. Now he must be eaten.”
“I rather think so,” assented Simba.
“Well,” said the rabbit, “I was thinking again.”
Their curiosity once more aroused, his comrades begged him to tell them his think.
“Why,” said he, “I was thinking this: When people like us put on new coats, where do the old ones go to?”
Both Simba and Feesee, having stopped a moment to consider the matter, exclaimed together, “Well, I wonder!” ”

“ My name is Jan Shah, and my father is Tooeegha′mus, a great sultan. He used to go every day into the forest to shoot game; so one day I said to him, “Father, let me go with you into the forest to-day;” but he said, “Stay at home. You are better there.” Then I cried bitterly, and as I was his only child, whom he loved dearly, he couldn’t stand my tears, so he said: “Very well; you shall go. Don’t cry.” [210]
“‘Thus we went to the forest, and took many attendants with us; and when we reached the place we ate and drank, and then every one set out to hunt. ”

“ One day Koongoo′roo, sultan of the crows, sent a letter to Mway′way, sultan of the kites, containing these few words: “I want you folks to be my soldiers.”
To this brief message Mwayway at once wrote this short reply: “I should say not.”
Thereupon, thinking to scare Mwayway, the sultan of the crows sent him word, “If you refuse to obey me I’ll make war upon you.”
To which the sultan of the kites replied, “That suits me; let us fight, and if you beat us we will obey you, but if we are victors you shall be our servants.” ”

“ The gazelle, through surprise at being found out and fear of the consequences of his accidental killing of the teacher, while engaged in stealing, was struck dumb.
Then the scholars said: “Ah! he hasn’t a word to say for himself. This is the fellow who threw down the calabash that struck our teacher Goso. We will kill him.” ”

“ But the monkey was busy thinking up some means of saving himself, and made no reply.
“Well?” said the shark, anxiously; “why don’t you speak?”
“Oh, I’ve nothing to say now. It’s too late. But if you had told me this [20] before we started, I might have brought my heart with me.”
“What? haven’t you your heart here?”
“Huh!” ejaculated Keema; “don’t you know about us? When we go out we leave our hearts in the trees, and go about with only our bodies. But I see you don’t believe me. You think I’m scared. Come on; let’s go to your home, where you can kill me and search for my heart in vain.” ”

“ A washerman owned a donkey, of which he was very fond. One day, however, it ran away, and took up its abode in the forest, where it led a lazy life, and consequently grew very fat.
“At length Soongoo′ra, the hare, by chance passed that way, and saw Poon′da, the donkey.
“Now, the hare is the most cunning of all beasts—if you look at his mouth you will see that he is always talking to himself about everything.
“So when Soongoora saw Poonda he said to himself, ‘My, this donkey is fat!’ Then he went and told Sim′ba, the lion. ”

“ You see I’m a poor old woman, and I have been placed here, with those pots and pans, to cook for him. Well, when the big snake is coming, the wind begins to blow and the dust flies as it would do in a great storm. Then, when he arrives in the courtyard, he eats until he is full, and after that, goes inside there to drink water. When he has finished, he goes away again. This occurs every other day, just when the sun is overhead. I may add that Neeoka Mkoo has seven heads. Now, then, do you think yourself a match for him?”
“Look here, mother,” said the gazelle, “don’t you worry about me. ”

“ As soon as he could get away unobserved, the man went to the sultan and said: “There is a stranger come to my house with a bag full of chains of silver and gold, which he says he got from a snake that lives in a well. But although he pretends to be a man, I know that he is a snake who has power to look like a man.”
When the sultan heard this he sent some soldiers who brought ’Mvoo Laana and his little bag before him. ”

“ There must be good and bad in everything. [118] Food that is both sweet and bitter is good food, but if food were nothing but sweetness would it not be injurious?”
“H’m!” yawned the gazelle; “I’m too tired to talk philosophy. Let’s go to sleep now, and when I call you in the morning, all you have to do is to get up and follow me.”
So at dawn they set forth, the gazelle leading the way, and for five days they journeyed through the forest.
On the fifth day they came to a stream, and Keejeepaa said to his master, “Lie down here.” ”