‘See if you can do it any better,’ said they; and Mohammed ran to the cow which he had buried in the rough grass, and took hold of her tail and dragged the animal out at once.
‘There! that is the way to do it!’ said he, ‘I told you you knew nothing about it!’
The men slunk away, much ashamed of themselves; but the master came up to Mohammed. ‘Get you gone!’ he said, ‘there is nothing more for you to do! You have killed my mother, you have slain my children, you have stolen my sheep, you have drowned my cows; I have now no work to give you.’
‘First give me the strip of your skin which belongs to me of right, as you have broken your contract!’
‘That a judge shall decide,’ said the master; ‘we will go before him.’
‘Yes, we will,’ replied Mohammed. And they went before the judge.
‘What is your case?’ asked the judge of the master.
‘My lord,’ said the man, bowing low, ‘my shepherd here has robbed me of everything. He has killed my children and my old mother; he has stolen my sheep, he has drowned my cows in the sea.’
The shepherd answered: ‘He must pay me what he owes me, and then I will go.’
‘Yes, that is the law,’ said the judge.