Baba Asabe pressed her hand to her chest and sighed. He said, “By God, this money — you should consider it as lost rather than lose your life over it, because I don’t believe it’s still there; I think it’s been stolen.”
She sat by the well with trembling and said, “But this girl truly confused me. Forty-four thousand — what a calamity she brought upon me today.”
He said, “You should punish her severely, because she acted recklessly and now the money has been stolen. If not, what would cause you to bring her before that madman, Baban-Baba, who does not know what he’s doing?”
She shook her head angrily and said, “Haladu, I don’t agree that he’s mad. I really don’t believe he’s insane because he acts like a normal person in some ways. Besides, the prayer (salah) doesn’t pass him — I refuse to believe he stole my money.”
He laughed and said, “Aside from you, Mother, how will you call him ‘sane’? If he were sane, you wouldn’t find him in that sorry state. And don’t be so quick to include Baban-Baba among the sane.”
She stood and said, “Haladu, I’ll go check for myself — whether it’s him or not, by God I know more than he does; he’d better bring my money out — thief!”
He stood and took money from his pocket, handing it to her: “Here — this is your money. I’ll go home and rest; I’ll come back in the evening to hear how you spent the night.”
She took the money, tied it back into the bag around her neck, hurried into a room and came out wrapped in a shawl.
Saliha warned her: “Mother, don’t go confront that madman — you might lose your eyes for nothing. I warned you.”
“I’ll go; I won’t tolerate this injustice — I will not accept loss,” she retorted, angry and determined to confront Baban-Baba together with the other woman.
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