wered the uncle.

Then Mohammed with the Magic Finger picked up a stick and struck the old
woman with it, saying, 'Get down, and look after the sheep; I want to go
to sleep.'

'Oh, certainly!' replied she.

So Mohammed lay down comfortably under a tree and slept till evening.
Towards sunset he woke up and said to the old woman: 'Where are the
singing birds which you have got to catch?'

'You never told me anything about that,' replied she.

'Oh, didn't I?' he answered. 'Well, it is part of your business, and if
you don't do it, I shall just kill you.'

'Of course I will catch them!' cried she in a hurry, and ran about the
bushes after the birds, till thorns pierced her foot, and she shrieked
from pain and exclaimed, 'Oh dear, how unlucky I am! and how abominably
this man is treating me!' However, at last she managed to catch the
seven birds, and brought them to Mohammed, saying, 'Here they are!'

'Then now we will go back to the house,' said he.

When they had gone some way he turned to her sharply:

'Be quick and drive the sheep home, for I do not know where their fold
is.' And she drove them before her. By-and-by the young man spoke:

'Look here, old hag; if you say anything to your son about my having
struck you, or about my not being the old shepherd, I'll kill you!'

'Oh, no, of course I won't say anything!'

When they got back, the son said to his mother: 'That is a good shepherd
I've got, isn't he?'

'Oh, a splendid shepherd!' answered she. 'Why, look how fat the sheep
are, and how much milk they give!'

'Yes, indeed!' replied the son, as he rose to get supper for his mother
and the shepherd.

In the time of Mohammed's uncle, the shepherd had had nothing to eat but
the scraps left by the old woman; but the new shepherd was not going to
be content with that.

'You will not touch the food till I have had as much as I want,'
whispered he.

'Very good!' replied she. And when he had had enough, he said:

'Now, eat!' But she wept, and cried: 'That was not written in your
contract. You were only to have what I left!'

'If you say a word more, I will kill you!' said he.

The next day he took the old woman on his back, and drove the sheep in
front of him till he was some distance from the house, when he let her
fall, and said: 'Quick! go and mind the sheep!'

Then he took a ram, and killed it. He lit a fire and broiled some of its
flesh, and called to the old woman:

'Come and eat with me!' and