‘Girls, pour the milk in the baththub and then add the honey,’ Jasmine said. Her four maidservants emptied six buckets of warm milk and two large jars of honey into her tub. Then they left. Jasmine undressed and laid in that honeyed milkness. She closed her eyes, and dreamed romance.

When the gypsies set up their colorful tents outside the village, the villagers hid their children. ‘Gypsies steal children,’ they told their little ones. Two weeks later the gypsies left, and the children were allowed again outside. They wanted to play with their cats, but all the cats were gone.

While little Florence was preparing to leave for school, her mischievous puppy ate her homework. There was nothing she could do about it. Later, in class... ‘Where’s your homework Florence?’ the teacher asked. Florence knew her teacher would not believe the truth. ‘I had other things to do,’ she said.