Then those hunters were able to come forth from that hole and escape. So they went out very quickly and ran back to their village.
When the snake came back to his house he found that those men had run away. It was indeed the elephant-nosed shrew who had saved them.
XIX
ALI OF THE CROOKED ARM
LONG ago in olden days there was a country, and the Sultan of that country had seven wives and the Wazir also had seven wives.
And the seven wives of the Sultan had seven children, and the seven wives of the Wazir had seven children, all boys.
The seventh child of the Sultan had only one eye, but the seventh child of the Wazir was wondrously beautiful. They called him Ali; but oh, misfortune, one arm was crooked.
Now all these fourteen children were brought up together till, by the power of Allah, they grew up into youths.