Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/230

Then the chief of the Jan bade her loose her trousers, filled them with gold coins, and had her carried home. But when she got there, and had closed the doors and windows, she found her trousers full of spiders, scorpions, and centipedes, which soon put an end to her wicked life.

Noticing that a native milkman, a fellâh from Siloam, was always in the habit of invoking the Name of Allah before measuring the milk which he handed over to our servant every morning, I one day asked him why he did so. “Oh,” said he, “it is always good to ‘name,’ and we fellahìn always do so when we put our hands into a vessel or commence work of any kind.” I said: “I quite agree with you that we ought always to ask God to bless us in anything we undertake, but, supposing you were to omit this precaution, what do you think would happen?” “We should most certainly fall into the power of the Jân,” replied the man very earnestly, adding, “Ism illah hawwaleynah” (the Name of Allah be around us!). “How?” I inquired; when, setting down his pitcher of milk, he told the following story:—

The son of a great Arab sheykh, a most accomplished youth, was sent forth by his father to travel and see the world. One day, arriving at a certain city, he chose a site for his tent, and bade his servants pitch it while he went and strolled through the markets. He had never before been within the walls of a city, and was so much interested in what he saw, that he spent more time than he had intended; and when he at last thought of returning