of her.'

‘Did you part company with the man who started with you?'

‘Yes; after three days he got so weak and useless he could not go
on. It must be a month by now since he reached home again. I went
on and visited every castle, and looked in every house. But there
were no signs of her; and so I gave it up.'

And they answered him: ‘We told you before that it was no good.
An ogre or an ogress must have snapped her up, and how can you
expect to find her?'

‘I loved her too much to be still,' he said.

But his friends did not understand, and soon they spoke to him
again about it.

‘We will seek for a wife for you. There are plenty of girls
prettier than Dschemila.'

‘I dare say; but I don't want them.'

‘But what will you do with all the cushions and carpets, and
beautiful things you bought for your house?'

‘They can stay in the chests.'

‘But the moths will eat them! For a few weeks, it is of no
consequence, but after a year or two they will be quite useless.'