exterminate the jackal and pardon
all our sins!

* * * * *

THE SHEIK'S HEAD

A man died, leaving a son. The child spent day and night with his mother.
The sheik chanted a prayer every morning and waked him up. The child went
to find the sheik, and said:

"Ali Sheik, do not sing so loudly, you wake us up every morning--my mother
and me."

But the sheik kept on singing. The child went to the mosque armed with a
club. At the moment when the sheik bowed to pray he struck him a blow and
killed him. He ran to his mother, and said to her:

"I have killed that sheik; come, let us bury him."

They cut off his head and buried his body. The child went to the
Thadjeinath, where the men of the village were assembled. In his absence
his mother killed a sheep. She took the head and buried it in place of the
sheik's head. The child arrived at the Thadjeinath and said to those
present:

"I have killed the sheik who waked us up every morning."

"It is a lie," said they.

"Come to my mother's house and we will show you where we buried his head."
They went to the house, and the mother said to them:

"Ali Sidi, this child is mad. It is a sheep that we have killed. Come and
see where we buried its head." They went to the spot, dug, and found a
sheep's head.

* * * * *

THE WAGTAIL AND THE JACKAL

At the time when all the animals spoke, a wagtail laid her eggs on the
ground. The little ones grew up. A jackal and a fox came to them. The
jackal said to the fox:

"Swear to me that the wagtail owes me a pound of butter."

The fox swore to it. The bird began to weep. A greyhound came to her and
asked her what was the matter. She answered him:

"The fox has calumniated me."

"Well," said the hound, "put me in this sack of skin."

She put him in the sack. "Tie up the top well," said the hound. When the
jackal returned she said to him:

"Come and measure out the butter."

The jackal advanced and unfastened the sack. He saw the hound, who
stretched out his paws and said to the fox:

"I am ill; come and measure, fox."

The fox approached. The hound seized him. The jackal said, "Remember your
false testimony."

* * * * *

THE FLUTE-PLAYER

A servant tended the sheep of his master. Arrived in the meadow, he played
the flute. The sheep heard him, and would not browse. One day the master
perceived that his sheep di