about to start, when the maiden spoke
again: 'Tell me, where are you going?'

'Why do you want to know?'

'I have an errand for you; but tell me first whether you go east or
west.'

'I travel to Damascus.'

'Then do this for me. As you pass through our village, ask for a man
called Dschemil, and say to him: "Dschemila greets you, from the castle,
which lies far away, and is rocked by the wind. In my grave lies only a
goat. So take heart."'

And the man promised, and went his way, till he came to a spring of
water. And he drank a great draught and then lay on the bank and slept
quietly. When he woke he said to himself, 'The maiden did a good deed
when she told me where to find water. A few hours more, and I should
have been dead. So I will do her bidding, and seek out her native town
and the man for whom the message was given.'

For a whole month he travelled, till at last he reached the town where
Dschemil dwelt, and as luck would have it, there was the young man
sitting before his door with his beard unshaven and his shaggy hair
hanging over his eyes.

'Welcome, stranger,' said Dschemil, as the man stopped. 'Where have you
come from?'

'I come from the west, and go towards the east,' he answered.

'Well, stop with us awhile, and rest and eat!' said Dschemil. And the
man entered; and food was set before him, and he sat down with the
father of the maiden and her brothers, and Dschemil. Only Dschemil
himself was absent, squatting on the threshold.

'Why do you not eat too?' asked the stranger. But one of the young men
whispered hastily: 'Leave him alone. Take no notice! It is only at night
that he ever eats.'

So the stranger went on silently with his food. Suddenly one of
Dschemil's brothers called out and said: 'Dschemil, bring us some water!'
And the stranger remembered his message and said:

'Is there a man here named "Dschemil"? I lost my way in the desert, and
came to a castle, and a maiden looked out of the window and...'

'Be quiet,' they cried, fearing that Dschemil might hear. But Dschemil
had heard, and came forward and said:

'What did you see? Tell me truly, or I will cut off your head this
instant!'

'My lord,' replied the stranger, 'as I was wandering, hot and tired,
through the desert, I saw near me a great castle, and I said aloud, "I
will rest a little in its shadow." And a maiden looked out of a window
and said, "Are you a ghost or a man?" And I answered, "I am a man, and
a better