‘Well, I have noticed that whenever the ogre brings back water he
always comes from that side; so if you follow the same direction
perhaps you may find some.'

The man jumped up at once and was about to start, when the maiden
spoke again: ‘Tell me, where are you going?'

‘Why do you want to know?'

‘I have an errand for you; but tell me first whether you go east
or west.'

‘I travel to Damascus.'

‘Then do this for me. As you pass through our village, ask for a
man called Dschemil, and say to him: "Dschemila greets you, from
the castle, which lies far away, and is rocked by the wind. In my
grave lies only a goat. So take heart." ‘

And the man promised, and went his way, till he came to a spring
of water. And he drank a great draught and then lay on the bank
and slept quietly. When he woke he said to himself, ‘The maiden
did a good deed when she told me where to find water. A few hours
more, and I should have been dead. So I will do her bidding, and
seek out her native town and the man for whom the message was
given.'

For a whole month he travelled, till at last he reached the town
where Dschemil dwelt, and as luck would have it, there was the
young man sitting before his door with his beard unshaven and his