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102 18 Thadhellala 68 Kabyle (Tunisia)69 Thadhellala was a woman who had seven daughters and no son. She went to the city and there saw a shop rich in merchandise. She went a little farther on and perceived at the door of a house a young girl of great beauty. She called the girl’s parents and said, “I have my son to marry. Let me have your daughter for him.” They let her take the girl away. She came back to the shop rich in merchandise and said to the man in charge of it, “I will gladly give you my daughter, but go first and consult your father.” The young man left a servant in his place and departed. Thadhellala sent the servant to buy some bread in another part of the city. Along came a caravan of mules. Thadhellala packed all the contents of the shop on their backs and said to the muleteer, “I will go ahead. My son will come in a moment. Wait for him, and he will pay you.” And she went off with the mules and the treasures that she had packed on their backs. Soon, the servant returned. “Where is your mother?” asked the muleteer. “Hurry and pay me!” “You tell me where she is, and I will make her give me back what she has stolen.” And they went before the justice. Thadhellala pursued her way and met seven young students. She said to one of them, “A hundred francs and I will marry you.” The student gave them to her. She made the same offer to the others, and each one took her word. Arriving at a fork in the road, the first student said, “I will take you.” The second one said, “I will take you.” And so on to the last. Thadhellala answered, “You shall have a race as far as that ridge over there, and the one who gets there first shall marry me.” The young men started. Just then, a horseman came passing by. “Lend me your horse,” she said to him. The horseman jumped off. Thadhellala mounted the horse and said, “You see that ridge? I will rejoin you there.” The scholars saw the man. “Have you seen a woman?” they asked him. “She has stolen seven hundred francs from us.” “Haven’t you seen her? She has stolen my horse!” They went to complain to the sultan, who gave the command to arrest Thadhellala. A man promised to seize her. He found a comrade, and together they pursued Thadhellala, who had taken flight. Nearly overtaken by the man, she met an African who pulled teeth and said to him, “You see my son coming down there. Pull out his teeth.” When the other passed, the African pulled out his teeth. The poor toothless one seized the African and led him before the sultan to have him punished. The African said to the sultan, “It was his mother who told me to pull them out for him.” “Sidi,” said the accuser, “I was pursuing Thadhellala.” The sultan then sent soldiers in pursuit of the woman. They seized her and hung her up at the gates of the city. Seeing herself arrested, she sent a messenger to her relatives. Then there came by a man who led a mule. Seeing her, he said, “How has this woman deserved to be hanged in this way?” “Take pity on me,” said Thadhellala. “Give me your mule, and I will show you a treasure.” She sent him to a certain place where the pretended treasure was supposed to be hidden. By this time, the brother-in-law of Thadhellala had arrived. “Take away this mule,” she said to him. The searcher for treasures dug in the earth at many places and found nothing. He came back to Thadhellala and demanded his mule. She began to weep and cry. The sentinel ran up, and Thadhellala brought a complain against this man. She was released, and he was hanged in her place. She fled to a far city, the sultan of which had just died. According to the custom of that country, they took as king the person who happened to be at the gates of the city when the king died. Fate took Thadhellala there at the right time. They conducted her to the palace, and she was proclaimed queen. Kabyle (Tunisia) 103 ...

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