Black Tales for White Children

by C. H. Stigand; Nancy Yulee Stigand

Then Ali said to himself, "Ah! My father, the demon, eats human flesh." Then he thought, "I, too, will be eaten. Whatever God wishes is best." As he thought he played with a knife in his hand and cut his finger.

The Jin.

In the evening the old demon returned and called out, "Hi, Ali!" and he answered him, "Here, father."

When he came to him the demon said, "Oh dog, what have you done to your finger?"

Ali said, "Father, why are you angry and speaking fiercely to me? I am afraid."

So the Jin said to him, "Come now, undo your finger that I may see." Then he touched it and healed it up.

They slept that night, and in the morning the Jin said to him, "Ali, I am going out to walk about for the space of fourteen days, and then I will return."

Ali said to him, "Very good, father."

When the Jin had gone Ali sat and thought out different plans, and he said to himself, "My father, the demon, said that I must not open all the rooms, but to-day I will open them and see what is in them."