There was in a city a man named Hamed-ben-Ceggad. He lived alone with his
mother. He lived upon nothing but the chase. One day the inhabitants of the
city said to the King:
"Hamed-ben-Ceggad is getting the better of you."
He said to them, "Tell me why you talk thus to me, or I will cut off your
heads."
"As he only eats the flesh of birds, he takes advantage of you for his
food."
The King summoned Hamed and said to him, "You shall hunt for me, and I will
supply your food and your mother's, too." Every day Hamed brought game to
the prince, and the prince grew very proud of him.
The inhabitants of the city were jealous of him, and went to the Sultan and
said: "Hamed-ben-Ceggad is brave. He could bring you the tree of coral-wood
and the palm-tree of the wild beasts."
The King said to him, "If you are not afraid, bring me the tree of
coral-wood and the palm-tree of the wild beasts."
"It is well," said Hamed. And the next day he took away all the people of
the city. When he came to the tree, he killed all the wild beasts, cut down
the palm-tree, loaded it upon the shoulders of the people, and the Sultan
built a house of coral-wood.
Seeing how he succeeded in everything, they said to the King, "Since he
achieves all that he attempts, tell him to bring you the woman with the set
of silver ornaments."
The prince repeated these words to Hamed, who said:
"The task you give me is harsh, nevertheless I will bring her to you," He
set out on the way, and came to a place where he found a man pasturing a
flock of sheep, carrying a millstone hanging to his neck and playing the
flute. Hamed said to him: "By the Lord, I cannot lift a small rock, and
this man hangs a millstone to his neck." The shepherd said: "You are
Hamed-ben-Ceggad, who built the house of coral-wood?"
"Who told you?"
"A bird that flew into the sky." He added, "I will go with you."
"Come," said Hamed. The shepherd took the millstone from his neck, and the
sheep were changed into stones.
On the way they met a naked man, who was rolling in the snow. They said [to
themselves], "The cold stings us, and yet that man rolls in the snow
without the cold killing him."
The man said to them, "You are Hamed-ben-Ceggad, who built the house of
coral-wood?"
"Who told you that?"
"A bird that passed flying in the sky told me. I will accompany you."
"Come," said Hamed. After they had pursued their way some time, they met a
man with long ears.
"By the Lord," they said, "we have only small ears, and this man has
immense ones."
"It is the Lord who created them thus, but if it pleases God I will
accompany you, for you are Hamed-ben-Ceggad."
They arrived at the house of the woman with the silver ornaments, and Hamed
said to the inhabitants, "Give us this woman, that we may take her away."
"Very well," said her brother, the ogre. They killed an ox, placed it upon
a hurdle, which they lifted up and put down with the aid of ninety-nine
men.
"Give us one of your men who can lift this hurdle."
He who wore millstones hanging from his neck said, "I can lift it." When he
had placed it on the ground, they served a _couscous_ with this ox.
The ogre said, "Eat all that we give you." They ate a little, and the man
with the long ears hid the rest of the food. The brother continued: "You
give us one of you who will go to gather a branch of a tree that stands all
alone on the top of a mountain two days' march in the snow." The one who
had rolled in the snow departed, and brought back the branch.
"There remains one more proof," said the ogre. "A partridge is flying in
the sky; let one of you strike it." Hamed-ben-Ceggad killed it.
They gave him the woman, but before her departure her brother gave her a
feather and said to her, "When anyone shall try to do anything to you
against your will, cast this feather on the hearth and we will come to
you."