Then his father sat him down and said, ‘Go in peace, my boy, but listen first to me. Tell your father the ogre and your mother the ogress, that never more shall they have any children of mine.’
‘All right,’ replied the boy, and called ‘Mother!’
‘What is it?’
‘You are never to take away any more of my father and mother’s children!’
‘Now that I have got you, I don’t want any more,’ answered she.
Then the boy turned to his father and said, ‘Go in peace, dear father, and give my mother greeting and tell her not to be anxious any more, for she can keep all her children.’
And Halfman mounted his horse and rode home, and told his wife all he had seen, and the message sent by Mohammed—Mohammed the son of Halfman, the son of the judge.
(Marchen und Gedichte aus der Stadt Tripolis. Hans von Stumme.)