On my return from the wars I hastened to embrace my son , but both he and Gouloucou had vanished , and it is only a few months since that I learned that the boy was living with a man called Mohammed , whom I suspected of having stolen him . Tell me , my son , how it came about that you fell into his hands . ' ` My lord , ' replied Neangir , ' I can remember little of the early years of my life , save that I dwelt in a castle by the seashore with an old servant . I must have been about twelve years old when one day as we were out walking we met a man whose face was like that of this Jew , coming dancing towards us . Suddenly I felt myself growing faint . I tried to raise my hands to my head , but they had become stiff and hard . In a word , I had been changed into a copper pot , and my arms formed the handle . What happened to my companion I know not , but I was conscious that some one had picked me up , and was carrying me quickly away . ` After some days , or so it seemed to me , I was placed on the ground near a thick hedge , and when I heard my captor snoring beside me I resolved to make my escape . So I pushed my way among the thorns as well as I could , and walked on steadily for about an hour . ` You can not imagine , my lord , how awkward it is to walk with three legs , especially when your knees are as stiff as mine were . At length after much difficulty I reached a market-garden , and hid myself deep down among the cabbages , where I passed a quiet night . ` The next morning , at sunrise , I felt some one stooping over me and examining me closely . `` What have you got there , Zinebi ? '' said the voice of a man a little way off . ' `` The most beautiful pot in the whole world , '' answered the woman beside me , `` and who would have dreamed of finding it among my cabbages ! '' ` Mohammed lifted me from the ground and looked at me with admiration . That pleased me , for every one likes to be admired , even if he is only a pot ! And I was taken into the house and filled with water , and put on the fire to boil . ` For three years I led a quiet and useful life , being scrubbed bright every day by Zinebi , then a young and beautiful woman .
` One morning XXXXX set me on the fire , with a fine fillet of beef inside me to cook , for dinner .
Gouloucou Mohammed Zinebi days escape hour market-garden months old years