." And the village people
said, "We have not found her." They went then to another village and
inquired. At this village the Sultan's wife recognized them, called her
servant, and said to him, "Go, bring to me this man." She said to the King,
"From what motive hast thou come hither?"

He said, "I have lost my wife."

She answered: "Stay here, and pass the night. We will give thee a dinner
and will question thee."

When the sun had set she said to the servant, "Go, bring the dinner, that
the guests may eat." When they had eaten she said to the King, "Tell me
your story."

He answered: "My story is long. My wife went away in the company of a
trusted vezir. He returned and said: 'By God, your wife has gone to
heaven.'

"I replied: 'No, you have lied. I'll go and look for her.'"

She said to him, "I am your wife."

"How came you here?" he asked.

She replied: "After having started, your vezir came to me and asked me to
marry him or he would kill my son, 'Kill him,' I said, and he killed them
both."

Addressing the vezir, she said: "And your story? Let us hear it."

"I will return in a moment," said the vezir, for he feared her. But the
King cut off his head.

The next day he assembled the council of the village, and his wife said,
"Forgive me and let me go, for I am a woman."

THE SOUFI AND THE TARGUI

Two Souafa were brothers. Separating one day one said to the other: "O my
brother, let us marry thy son with my daughter." So the young cousins were
married, and the young man's father gave them a separate house. It happened
that a man among the Touareg heard tell of her as a remarkable woman. He
mounted his swiftest camel, ten years old, and went to her house. Arrived
near her residence, he found some shepherds.

"Who are you?" he said.

"We are Souafa."

He confided in one of them, and said to him: "By the face of the Master of
the worlds, O favorite of fair women, man of remarkable appearance, tell me
if the lady so and so, daughter of so and so, is here."

"She is here."

"Well, if you have the sentiments of most men, I desire you to bring her
here, I want to see her."

"I will do what you ask. If she'll come, I'll bring her. If not, I will
return and tell you."

He set out, and, arriving at the house of the lady, he saw some people, and
said "Good-evening" to them.

"Come dine with us," they said to him.

"I have but just now eaten and am not hungry." He pretended to amuse
himself with