There was once a very beautiful girl called Fatima. She was known as "Fatima the beautiful." She was not only beautiful, she was also very clever.
One day she went to the forest with five friends. They lost their way, and when night came they saw a very bright fire. They went to the fire, and there was an old woman sitting by it. The old woman said, "Ha, ha, this is good! God has brought you to me. Six fat little girls! Let me give you some food." Then she brought them some nice cakes. Fatima looked at the cakes, and she looked at the old woman. Then she said in a quiet voice to her friends, "That is a witch! Do not eat the food." "Why do you not eat the cakes?" said the old woman.
"We cannot eat these cakes unless we have water," said Fatima. "Let us go and fetch water from the river." "Oh, no!" said the old woman.
"If you go to the river you will all run away." "Take that rope," said Fatima, "and tie us up with it. Then you will know that we have not run away, and you can go to the river and get water for us," said Fatima. So the witch took the rope and tied up the little girls. She said, "I will pull the rope, and I shall know that you are still here." Then she went off to the river to get water. As she went, she gave a pull on the rope and said, "Ha, ha! Still there!" Then she gave another pull on the rope and said, "Ha, ha! Still there!" Then she gave another pull and she said, "Ha, ha! The fat little girls are still there!" But Fatima had untied the little girls and had tied the rope to a tree, and the six girls were running away towards the village.
When the witch came back from the river, she saw the girls running away. Then she said, "Let there be a wide river with a big crocodile in it in front of the girls!" The girls ran on and on, and the witch ran after them. They came to the wide river, and Fatima saw the crocodile. She said, "Dear friend crocodile, please take us across the river one by one on your back." "What shall I get if l do that?" said the crocodile.
"Take five of us across," said Fatima, "And you may eat the sixth one." So the crocodile took one little girl on his back and swam to the other side, and he said, "That is One!" Then he went back and brought another little girl across, and he said, "Ha, that is Two!" Then he went back and brought another little girl across, and said, "Ha, that is Three!" Then he went back and brought another little girl across, and he said, "Ha, that is Four!" Then he went back and brought another little girl across, and he said, "Ha, that is Five! Now I shall eat the sixth little girl!" The witch came running after the little girls. She came to the river, and she got on the crocodile's back. He took her to the middle of the river and said, "Ha, this is the sixth little girl!" and he ate her. He said, "Not a good little girl! She is all bones. Why did I not eat one of the other five?" For Fatima had gone across with the fifth girl, holding on to the crocodile's tail.
