s,' answered the old witch, 'I think I could reach him.' And
her voice now sounded so cruel that Ameer Ali was sure that she
intended some evil. But he only said:

'Very well, we will try.' With that he drew his sword, pretending that
he needed it to lean upon, and bent so that the old woman could
clamber on to his back, which she did very nimbly. Then, suddenly, he
felt a noose slipped over his neck, and the old witch sprang from his
shoulders on to the gallows, crying:

'Now, foolish one, I have got you, and will kill you for my supper.'

But Ameer Ali gave a sweep upwards with his sharp sword to cut the
rope that she had slipped round his neck, and not only cut the cord
but cut also the old woman's foot as it dangled above him; and with a
yell of pain and anger she vanished into the darkness.

* * * * *

Ameer Ali then sat down to collect himself a little, and felt upon the
ground by his side an anklet that had evidently fallen off the old
witch's foot. This he put into his pocket, and as the storm had by
this time passed over he made his way back to the palace. When he had
finished his story, he took the anklet out of his pocket and handed it
to the king, who, like everyone else, was amazed at the glory of the
jewels which composed it. Indeed, Ameer Ali himself was astonished,
for he had slipped the anklet into his pocket in the dark and had not
looked at it since. The king was delighted at its beauty, and having
praised and rewarded Ameer Ali, he gave the anklet to his daughter, a
proud and spoiled princess.

Now in the women's apartments in the palace there hung two cages, in
one of which was a parrot and in the other a starling, and these two
birds could talk as well as human beings. They were both pets of the
princess who always fed them herself, and the next day, as she was
walking grandly about with her treasure tied round her ankle, she
heard the starling say to the parrot:

'Oh, Tote' (that was the parrot's name), 'how do you think the
princess looks in her new jewel?'

'Think?' snapped the parrot, who was cross because they hadn't given
him his bath that morning, 'I think she looks like a washerwoman's
daughter, with one shoe on and the other off! Why doesn't she wear two
of them, instead of going about with one leg adorned and the other
empty?'

When the princess heard this she burst into tears; and sending for her
father she declared that he must get her another s