ome.

It was six and twenty days before Dschemil caught sight of a green spot
rising out of the sandy desert, and knew that the spring was near at
last. He hastened his steps, and soon was kneeling by its side, drinking
thirstily of the bubbling water. Then he lay down on the cool grass,
and began to think. 'If the man was right, the castle must be somewhere
about. I had better sleep here to-night, and to-morrow I shall be able
to see where it is.' So he slept long and peacefully. When he awoke
the sun was high, and he jumped up and washed his face and hands in the
spring, before going on his journey. He had not walked far, when the
castle suddenly appeared before him, though a moment before not a trace
of it could be seen. 'How am I to get in?' he thought. 'I dare not
knock, lest the ogre should hear me. Perhaps it would be best for me
to climb up the wall, and wait to see what will happen. So he did, and
after sitting on the top for about an hour, a window above him opened,
and a voice said: 'Dschemil!' He looked up, and at the sight of
Dschemila, whom he had so long believed to be dead, he began to weep.

'Dear cousin,' she whispered, 'what has brought you here?'

'My grief at losing you.'

'Oh! go away at once. If the ogre comes back he will kill you.'

'I swear by your head, queen of my heart, that I have not found you only
to lose you again! If I must die, well, I must!'

'Oh, what can I do for you?'

'Anything you like!'

'If I let you down a cord, can you make it fast under your arms, and
climb up?'

'Of course I can,' said he.

So Dschemila lowered the cord, and Dschemil tied it round him, and
climbed up to her window. Then they embraced each other tenderly, and
burst into tears of joy.

'But what shall I do when the ogre returns?' asked she.

'Trust to me,' he said.

Now there was a chest in the room, where Dschemila kept her clothes. And
she made Dschemil get into it, and lie at the bottom, and told him to
keep very still.

He was only hidden just in time, for the lid was hardly closed when
the ogre's heavy tread was heard on the stairs. He flung open the door,
bringing men's flesh for himself and lamb's flesh for the maiden. 'I
smell the smell of a man!' he thundered. 'What is he doing here?'

'How could any one have come to this desert place?' asked the girl, and
burst into tears.

'Do not cry,' said the ogre; 'perhaps a raven has dropped some scraps
from his claws.'

'Ah, yes, I was