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.