u';
whereupon they all rose up and took to flight. The Cogia, taking a
little bread in his hand, sat down on the side of the fountain, and
crumbling the bread in the fountain, fell to eating. A person coming up,
said, 'What are you eating?' 'Duck broth,' replied the Cogia.

One day the Cogia having bought a liver, was carrying it to his house;
suddenly a kite, swooping from above with a loud scream, seized the
liver, and flew off with it. The Cogia remained staring after it, but
saw that it was impossible to recover his meat. Making up his mind, he
ran up to the top of an eminence, and a person passing below with a liver
in his hand, the Cogia darted down and snatched the liver out of the
person's hand, and ran again up the rock. 'Hallo, Cogia,' said the man,
'what are you about?' 'I was merely playing the kite out of fun,' said
the Cogia.

A person coming to Nasr Eddin Efendi, requested him to let him have a
rope. The Cogia went into his house, and coming out again, said, 'The
rope is striking ten.' 'How can a rope strike ten?' said the man. 'It
will always be striking ten,' said the Cogia, 'till I feel inclined to
give you the rope.'

One day the Cogia put some fowls into a cage and set out for the castle
of Siouri. As he was going along he said to himself, 'These poor
wretches are here imprisoned: I think I may as well give them a little
liberty.' So he let them all out, and all the hens ran off in one
direction or another. The Cogia taking a stick in his hand, placed
himself before the cock, pushing him and driving him, saying, 'O you who
in the middle of the night knowest when it is morning, how is it that in
broad day thou knowest not the way to the castle?'

One day as the Cogia was wandering amongst the tombs, by the side of the
way he fell into an old tomb, and making believe as if he were dead, he
said, 'Let me see Mounkhir. Is Nekir coming?' As he lay there stretched
at his length, it appeared to him that he heard from afar the voice of a
bell. 'It is the noise of the Day of Judgment,' said the Cogia, and
forthwith sprang out of the tomb. Now it happened that a caravan was
coming, and the Cogia, by putting out his head, frightened the camels,
who jostled each other in great confusion. No sooner did the conductors
see the Cogia than, seizing their cudgels, they said to him, 'You! Who
are you?' The Cogia said to them, 'I am one who is dead.' 'And what are
you doing here?' said the condu