[From Moorish Literature by René Basset, 1901. See item #24 in the Bibliography.
[From Moorish Literature by René Basset, 1901. See item #24 in the Bibliography. The 18th-century illustration of a jerboa is from the Wellcome Trust at Wikimedia Commons.]
Once upon a time there was a man who had much goods. One day he went to market. There came a greyhound, which ate some meat. The butcher gave it a blow, which made it yelp. Seeing this, the heart of the man was touched with compassion. He bought of the butcher half a piece of meat and flung it to the greyhound. The dog took it and went away. The dog was the son of the king of the netherworld!
Later, Fortune changed for the man. He lost all his possessions and began to wash for people. A jerboa appeared with a ring in its ear. The man ran after it, killed it, hid the ring, made a fire, cooked the jerboa, and ate it.
A woman came out of the earth, seized him, and demanded, “Haven’t you seen my son, with an ear-ring?”
“I haven’t seen anybody,” he answered, “but I saw a jerboa which had a ring in its ear.”
“It is my son.” She drew the man under the earth and told him, “You have eaten my son; you have separated me from him. Now I will separate you from your children, and you shall work in the place of my son.”
The son of the king of the netherworld who had been changed into a greyhound saw this man that day in the netherworld and said to him, “Is it you who bought some meat for a greyhound and threw it to him?”
“It is I.”
“I am that greyhound. Who brought you here?”
“A woman,” answered the man, and he recounted all his adventure.
“Go and make a complaint to the king,” answered the other. “I am his son. I’ll tell him, ‘This man did me a good service.’ When he asks you to go to the treasure and take as much money as you wish, answer him, ‘I don’t want any. I only want you to spit a benediction into my mouth.’
The man went and found the king and complained of the woman. The king called her and asked her, “Why have you taken this man captive?”
“He ate my son.”
“Why was your son metamorphosed into a jerboa? When men see one of those animals, they kill it and eat it.” Then, addressing the man, he said, “Give her back the ear-ring.” The man gave it to her.
“Go,” said the king to the woman. “Take this man to the place from which you brought him.”
The son of the king then said to his father, “This man did me a favor; you ought to reward him.”
The king said to him, “Go to the treasure; take as much money as you can.”
“I don’t want money,” the man answered. But if you reveal it to the people, you will die.”
“I will not reveal it.”
So the king spat into the man’s mouth and sent him away, saying to the woman, “Go and take him back where you found him.” She departed and took him back there.
The man mounted his donkey and came back to his house. He unloaded the donkey and took back to the people the linen he had washed. Then he remounted the beast to go and seek some earth. He was going to dig when he heard a crow say in the air, “Dig beneath; you will sing when God has made you rich.”
He unde