eash round his neck, and led him away.

In the evening they arrived at the tents of some more Bedouin, and asked
for shelter. After supper Mohammed said to the owner of the tent, 'Your
ram will kill my greyhound.'

'Oh, no, he won't.'

'And supposing he does?'

'Then you can take him in exchange.'

So in the night Mohammed killed the greyhound, and laid his body across
the horns of the ram. Then he set up shrieks and yells, till he roused
the Arab, who said: 'Take the ram and go away.'

Mohammed did not need to be told twice, and at sunset he reached another
Bedouin encampment. He was received kindly, as usual, and after supper
he said to his host: 'Your daughter will kill my ram.'

'Be silent, she will do nothing of the sort; my daughter does not need
to steal meat, she has some every day.'

'Very well, I will go to sleep; but if anything happens to my ram I will
call out.'

'If my daughter touches anything belonging to my guest I will kill her,'
said the Arab, and went to his bed.

When everybody was asleep, Mohammed got up, killed the ram, and took out
his liver, which he broiled on the fire. He placed a piece of it in the
girl's hands, and laid some more on her night-dress while she slept and
knew nothing about it. After this he began to cry out loudly.

'What is the matter? be silent at once!' called the Arab.

'How can I be silent, when my ram, which I loved like a child, has been
slain by your daughter?'

'But my daughter is asleep,' said the Arab.

'Well, go and see if she has not some of the flesh about her.'

'If she has, you may take her in exchange for the ram;' and as they
found the flesh exactly as Mohammed had foretold, the Arab gave his
daughter a good beating, and then told her to get out of sight, for she
was now the property of this stranger.

They wandered in the desert till, at nightfall, they came to a Bedouin
encampment, where they were hospitably bidden to enter. Before lying
down to sleep, Mohammed said to the owner of the tent: 'Your mare will
kill my wife.'

'Certainly not.'

'And if she does?'

'Then you shall take the mare in exchange.'

When everyone was asleep, Mohammed said softly to his wife: 'Maiden, I
have got such a clever plan! I am going to bring in the mare and put
it at your feet, and I will cut you, just a few little flesh wounds, so
that you may be covered with blood, and everybody will suppose you to be
dead. But remember that you must not make a sound