"
She called her daughter. "Take a club," she said to her, "and we will give
it to him until he cries for mercy."
The daughter brought a club and gave Ou AH a good beating. Ali, who was
watching the herd, came at nightfall and met his friend.
"Did the old woman accept you?" he asked him.
"She accepted me," answered Ali. "And is the herd easy to watch?"
"From morning till night I have nothing to do but to repose. Take my place
to-morrow, and mount one of the oxen."
The next day Ou Ali said to the old woman, "To-day I will take care of the
herd." And, on starting, he recommended Ali to ask the old woman for her
daughter's hand.
"It is well," answered Ali. Ou Ali arrived in the fields; one of the oxen
seized him with his horns and tossed him into the air. All the others did
the same thing. He regained the horse half dead. Ali, who had remained at
the house, asked the old woman for her daughter's hand. "You ask me again?"
said she. She took a club and gave it to him till he had had enough. Ou Ali
said to Ali: "You have played me a trick." Ali answered him: "Without doubt
they gave me the stick so hard that I did not hear the last blow.
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