ich had stuck there, and the maiden sat up and said, 'Let
him live who gave me life, and slay him who slew me!' And when the camel
heard the maiden speak, it turned and carried her back to her brothers.

Now the brothers were still seated in the court bewailing their sister,
and their eyes were dim with weeping so that they could hardly see. And
when the camel stood before them they said, 'Perhaps it has brought back
our sister!' and rose to give it a beating. But the camel knelt down and
the girl dismounted, and they flung themselves on her neck and wept more
than ever for gladness.

'Tell me,' said the eldest, as soon as he could speak, 'how it all came
about, and what killed you.'

'I was waiting in the upper chamber,' said she, 'and a nail of the
man-eater's stuck under my nail, and I fell dead upon the ground. That
is all I know.'

'But who pulled out the nail?' asked he.

'A man took hold of my hand and tried to pull off my ring, and the nail
jumped out and I was alive again. And when the camel heard me say "Let
him live who gave me life, slay him who slew me!" it turned and brought
me back to the castle. That is my story.'

She was silent and the eldest brother spoke. 'Will you listen to what I
have to say, my brothers?'

And they replied, 'How should we not hear you? Are you not our father as
well as our brother?'

'Then this is my advice. Let us take our sister back to our father and
mother, that we may see them once more before they die.'

And the young men agreed, and they mounted their horses and placed
their sister in a litter on the camel. So they set out.

At the end of five days' journey they reached the old home where their
father and mother dwelt alone. And the heart of their father rejoiced,
and he said to them, 'Dear sons, why did you go away and leave your
mother and me to weep for you night and day?'

'Dear father,' answered the son, 'let us rest a little now, and then I
will tell you everything from the beginning.'

'All right,' replied the father, and waited patiently for three days.

And on the morning of the fourth day the eldest brother said, 'Dear
father, would you like to hear our adventures?'

'Certainly I should!'

'Well, it was our aunt who was the cause of our leaving home, for we
agreed that if the baby was a sister she should wave a white
handkerchief, and if it was a brother, she should brandish a sickle, for
then there would be nothing to come back for, and we might