Page:Swahili tales.djvu/289

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SULTAN MAJNÚN.
269

And he got down from the tree with all his might, and he made a signal-cry, and was answered; and he made a second signal-cry, and held his ear thus on one side, to hear when his signal was answered, and go to that place. And his signal was answered twice, and he went on till he met with two of his fellow-servants on a tree. And he said to them, "Come along, get down, the nunda is dead." And they got down quickly, and came along till they found their master. And he said, "Hullo, Shindano!" And he said, "We have come with Kiroboto, the nunda is quite dead, come down, master." And he came down and reached the bottom, and there they all met. And each man looked for his clothes, and put them on. And they looked for their guns, and they looked for the baskets, in which their bumundas were, and they came [with them], and the young men had got weak through that day.

And they rested there, and ate their food and drank water also, and went to where the nunda had fallen down. When the youth saw it, he said, "This is the nunda, this is it, this is it." "Ah! true master, this is it."

And they dragged it three days along the road. Till when they came out from the forest, his soul was glad that it was the nunda, and he sang—

"O mother, this is he,
The Nunda, eater of people." (Eleven times.)

"My son, this is not he,
The Nunda, eater of people." (Eight times.)

"Ah! What trouble my son you have taken! And the people of the town wonder at your youth, and your understanding, it is so great." And his father said, "Here where you are, let that suffice. Do not go any further." And he said, "Father, I cannot help going. Perhaps Almighty God has laid out my death for me