Page:Swahili tales.djvu/327

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SELL DEAR.
307

"Here." "Tell the mistress to get food ready quickly, before two o'clock strikes, and then come back."

When Mrashi was come she said, "I am come, master." And he said, "Mrashi, unlock the chest and bring a turban cloth, and bring a white embroidered cap, and bring a kanzu of khuzurungi, and bring a loin-cloth with a border; and all these I have fastened together in a parcel with a red handkerchief; bring them quickly."

And the Vizir arose and said to Ali, "I have called you for good, I beg of you that no man may know of this business; keep it to yourself." And Ali said, "All right, master; could I betray your matters, master?"

And he said, "I want you, Ali, to give me the meaning of the words you told the Sultan, and the words the Sultan said to you."

And he said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"

"Ali, Ali, I beg of you tell me those words; why will you say to me, 'The Sultan told me, Sell dear, and not cheap.' I will give you my plantation."

And he said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap?'"

And he said, "Ali, take all my shops and storerooms that are in the town."

And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"

The Vizir said, "Ali, take all my plantations."

And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"

The Vizir said, "Take all my possessions."

And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"

And the Vizir said, "Take what speaks, and what speaks not, of the possessions of me, the Vizir, and tell me those words."