son?' said he.

'News? I have no news, except that if you will open your mouth you shall
see what dates taste like.' And he plucked a date, and put it into his
father's mouth.

'Ah! You are indeed my son,' cried the sultan. 'You do not take after
those fools, those good-for-nothings. But, tell me, what did you do with
the bird, for it was you, and you only who watched for it?'

'Yes, it was I who watched for it and who saw it. And it will not come
again, neither for its life, nor for your life, nor for the lives of
your children.'

'Oh, once I had six sons, and now I have only one. It is you, whom I
called a fool, who have given me the dates: as for the others, I want
none of them.'

But his wife rose up and went to him, and said, 'Master, do not, I pray
you, reject them,' and she entreated long, till the sultan granted her
prayer, for she loved the six elder ones more than her last one.

So they all lived quietly at home, till the sultan's cat went and caught
a calf. And the owner of the calf went and told the sultan, but he
answered, 'The cat is mine, and the calf mine,' and the man dared not
complain further.

Two days after, the cat caught a cow, and the sultan was told, 'Master,
the cat has caught a cow,' but he only said, 'It was my cow and my cat.'

And the cat waited a few days, and then it caught a donkey, and they
told the sultan, 'Master, the cat has caught a donkey,' and he said,
'My cat and my donkey.' Next it was a horse, and after that a camel, and
when the sultan was told he said, 'You don't like this cat, and want me
to kill it. And I shall not kill it. Let it eat the camel: let it even
eat a man.'

And it waited till the next day, and caught some one's child. And the
sultan was told, 'The cat has caught a child.' And he said, 'The cat is
mine and the child mine.' Then it caught a grown-up man.

After that the cat left the town and took up its abode in a thicket near
the road. So if any one passed, going for water, it devoured him. If it
saw a cow going to feed, it devoured him. If it saw a goat, it devoured
him. Whatever went along that road the cat caught and ate.

Then the people went to the sultan in a body, and told him of all the
misdeeds of that cat. But he answered as before, 'The cat is mine and
the people are mine.' And no man dared kill the cat, which grew bolder
and bolder, and at last came into the town to look for its prey.

One day, the sultan said to his six sons, 'I am goi