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that the blood began to flow down her face. As it did so, she licked it with her tongue, saying, “O how sweet is the dibs^[1] in my uncle’s house!” “Ah! said Uhdey-dûn, as he brandished his hatchet, “do you think that I can’t see through your disguise? It was I who destroyed your children, I who poked you with my needle while you carried that sack of wood, and I'll kill you yet. Come near me if you dare!” Now the ghìlan are afraid of iron and so, when the ghûleh saw that her enemy was armed and on the alert, she slunk away disappointed.

Some days later, she thought of a device to tempt him to expose himself unarmed. In the form of a peasant-woman she came to the foot of his rock, and called up to him for the loan of a sieve. “Come up and fetch it,” said Uhdey-dûn. “I cannot climb the rock,” replied the ghûeh. “I will lower a rope for you,” said Uhdey-dûn. He did so, but noticing that his visitor was coming up with unusual skill, he observed her more closely and recognised her. He therefore let the rope go, and so the monster fell down the precipice and was dashed to bits. This was the way in which Uhdey-dûn delivered the country from the ghûleh and her brood.

There was once a poor wood-cutter,^[2] who had a wife and three daughters dependent on him. One day, while he was working in the forest, a stranger