The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind


I am now going to begin my story (said the old man), so please attend.

This hind that you see with me is my wife. We have no children
of our own, therefore I adopted the son of a favorite slave,
and determined to make him my heir.

My wife, however, took a great dislike to both mother and child,
which she concealed from me till too late. When my adopted
son was about ten years old I was obliged to go on a journey.
Before I went I entrusted to my wife's keeping both the mother
and child, and begged her to take care of them during my absence,
which lasted a whole year. During this time she studied magic
in order to carry out her wicked scheme. When she had learnt enough
she took my son into a distant place and changed him into a calf.
Then she gave him to my steward, and told him to look after a calf she
had bought. She also changed the slave into a cow, which she sent
to my steward.

When I returned I inquired after my slave and the child.
"Your slave is dead," she said, "and as for your son, I have
not seen him for two months, and I do not know where he is."

I was grieved to hear of my slave's death, but as my son had only
disappeared, I thought I should soon find him. Eight months, however,
passed, and still no tidings of him; then the feast of Bairam came.