Then, as he slept, the gazelle woke him, saying, ‘Master.’
And the man answered, ‘How is it that I see a wonder?’
‘What wonder?’ asked the gazelle.
‘Why, that you, a gazelle, should be able to speak, for, from the beginning, my father and mother and all the people that are in the world have never told me of a talking gazelle.’
‘Never mind that,’ said the gazelle, ‘but listen to what I say! First, I took you for my master. Second, you gave for me all you had in the world. I cannot run away from you, but give me, I pray you, leave to go every morning and seek food for myself, and every evening I will come back to you. What you find in the dust-heaps is not enough for both of us.’
‘Go, then,’ answered the master; and the gazelle went.
When the sun had set, the gazelle came back, and the poor man was very glad, and they lay down and slept side by side.
In the morning it said to him, ‘I am going away to feed.’
And the man replied, ‘Go, my son,’ but he felt very lonely without his gazelle, and set out sooner than usual for the dust-heap where he generally found most corn. And glad he was when the evening came, and he could return home. He lay on the grass chewing tobacco, when the gazelle trotted up.
‘Good evening, my master; how have you fared all day? I have been resting in the shade in a place where there is sweet grass when I am hungry, and fresh water when I am thirsty, and a soft breeze to fan me in the heat. It is far away in the forest, and no one knows of it but me, and to-morrow I shall go again.’