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'Capital! and if ever you are in danger the cat will come and tell us only elves and pigeons, which fly round your window, know where to find us. 'This is the first I have heard of the pigeons, said Udea. 'Why did you not speak of them before? We always leave them food and water for seven days, replied the brothers.
But on the following day he said again to Udea, 'Get down, and let the negress ride instead of you, and though Udea called to her mother she was too far away, and the mother never heard her. Then the negro seized her roughly and threw her on the ground, and said to his wife, 'Climb up, and the negress climbed up, while the girl walked by the side.
One day, when she had been quarrelling with her playmates, the oldest among them said to her, 'It is a pity you were born, as ever since, your brothers have been obliged to roam about the world. Udea did not answer, but went home to her mother and asked her, 'Have I really got brothers? 'Yes, replied her mother, 'seven of them.
'Very well, cried she, and kept the doors carefully locked for seven days and on the eighth the brothers returned as before. Then, after spending one evening with her, they departed as soon as they had done breakfast. Directly they were out of sight Udea began to clean the house, and among the dust she found a bean which she ate. 'What are you eating? asked the cat. 'Nothing, said she.
He entered through the gate which she had left open, and went on till he reached the inside of the house. But here he was stopped by the seven doors, six of wood and one of iron, and all fast locked. And he called through them 'Oh Udea, what did you see your grandfather doing? 'I saw him spread silk under him, and silk over him, and lay himself down in a four-post bed.
The young man asked no more questions, but took them into the castle, and he himself waited outside till his brothers came home. As soon as they were alone, the negro whispered to Udea, 'If you dare to tell your brothers that I made you walk, or that I smeared you with pitch, I will kill you.
And the eldest brother took Udea on his knee, and she combed his hair and talked to him of their home till the tears ran down his cheeks and dropped on her bare arm. And where the tears fell a white mark was made. Then the brother took a cloth and rubbed the place, and he saw that she was not black at all. 'Tell me, who painted you over like this? cried he.
During the first day the party journeyed on without any adventures, but the second morning the negro said to the girl, 'Get down, and let the negress ride instead of you. 'Mother, cried Udea. 'What is it? asked her mother. 'Barka wants me to dismount from my camel. 'Leave her alone, Barka, commanded the mother, and Barka did not dare to persist.
'Oh! do as you like, only go away! cried she. So the cat ran straight to the kitchen fire, and spit on it and put it out, and when Udea came to cook the supper she had nothing to light it with. 'Why did you put the fire out? asked she. 'Just to show you how nicely you would be able to cook the supper. Didn't you tell me to do what I liked?
'Tell us what has happened, he said, 'and how the man-eater traced you here. 'It is all the cat's fault, replied Udea. 'She put out my fire so that I could not cook. All about a bean! I ate one and forgot to give her any of it. 'But we told you so particularly, said the eldest brother, 'never to eat anything without sharing it with the cat. 'Yes, but I tell you I forgot, answered Udea.
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