The Imp, admiringly, said: “Is this wise judge only a boy?” and with that he jumped into the trap to get out his prize, but no sooner had he done so than the boy called out: “Look, father, there is a male animal in the trap and it is yours.”
On dropping down into the trap the Imp had become, according to his own statement, an animal, and consequently belonged to the man. The Imp, to save himself, had to give up all claim to the woman, and thus the child by his smartness saved his mother’s life. Never again did the man enter into an agreement until he properly understood all about the conditions.
XX
How the Gazelle won his Wife
Once upon a time there was a Gazelle that went in search of a wife. While journeying he met a beautiful girl, and stopped, and said to her: “Miss So-and-so, have you any water?--if so, please give me a drink, for I am very thirsty.”
The girl replied: “Yes, sir,” and taking a calabash well ornamented with rows of brass nails she gave it to him full of water. He drank eagerly, and as he handed the calabash back, he said: “The water is as nice to drink as the girl is beautiful.”
The Gazelle inquired of her, and finding she was not married, asked her: “Will you marry me?”
She answered: “I don’t know, I must ask my mother.”
So together they went to seek the mother’s consent. When she heard all about the affair, she said: “If you want to marry my daughter you must first bring me the dried flesh of every animal and bird in the forest.”
The Gazelle was at first disconcerted by such a difficult task, but said: “All right, I will do it,” and went his way to think out a plan by which he could win his wife.