The Sheik's Head

A man died, leaving a son. The child spent day and night with his mother.
The sheik chanted a prayer every morning and waked him up. The child went
to find the sheik, and said:

"Ali Sheik, do not sing so loudly, you wake us up every morning--my mother
and me."

But the sheik kept on singing. The child went to the mosque armed with a
club. At the moment when the sheik bowed to pray he struck him a blow and
killed him. He ran to his mother, and said to her:

"I have killed that sheik; come, let us bury him."

They cut off his head and buried his body. The child went to the
Thadjeinath, where the men of the village were assembled. In his absence
his mother killed a sheep. She took the head and buried it in place of the
sheik's head. The child arrived at the Thadjeinath and said to those
present:

"I have killed the sheik who waked us up every morning."

"It is a lie," said they.

"Come to my mother's house and we will show you where we buried his head."
They went to the house, and the mother said to them:

"Ali Sidi, this child is mad. It is a sheep that we have killed. Come and
see where we buried its head." They went to the spot, dug, and found a
sheep's head.