, or we shall both be
lost.'

This was done, and then Mohammed wept and wailed louder than ever.

The Arab hastened to the spot and cried, 'Oh, cease making that terrible
noise! Take the mare and go; but carry off the dead girl with you. She
can lie quite easily across the mare's back.'

Then Mohammed and his uncle picked up the girl, and, placing her on the
mare's back, led it away, being very careful to walk one on each side,
so that she might not slip down and hurt herself. After the Arab tents
could be seen no longer, the girl sat up on the saddle and looked about
her, and as they were all hungry they tied up the mare, and took out
some dates to eat. When they had finished, Mohammed said to his uncle:
'Dear uncle, the maiden shall be your wife; I give her to you. But the
money we got from the sheep and cows we will divide between us. You
shall have two-thirds and I will have one. For you will have a wife, but
I never mean to marry. And now, go in peace, for never more will you see
me. The bond of bread and salt is at an end between us.'

So they wept, and fell on each other's necks, and asked forgiveness for
any wrongs in the past. Then they parted and went their ways.

[Maerchen und Gedichte aus der Stadt Tripolis. Von Haus Stumme.]

Bobino

Once on a time there was a rich merchant, who had an only son called
Bobino. Now, as the boy was clever, and had a great desire for
knowledge, his father sent him to be under a master, from whom he
thought he would learn to speak all sorts of foreign languages. After
some years with this master, Bobino returned to his home.

One evening, as he and his father were walking in the garden, the
sparrows in the trees above their heads began such a twittering, that
they found it impossible to hear each other speak. This annoyed the
merchant very much, so, to soothe him, Bobino said: 'Would you like me
to explain to you what the sparrows are saying to each other?'

The merchant looked at his son in astonishment, and answered: 'What can
you mean? How can you explain what the sparrows say? Do you consider
yourself a soothsayer or a magician?'

'I am neither a soothsayer nor a magician,' answered Bobino; 'but my
master taught me the language of all the animals.'

'Alas! for my good money!' exclaimed the merchant. 'The master has
certainly mistaken my intention. Of course I meant you to learn the
languages that human beings talk, and not the language of animals.'

'Ha