but one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and now prince majnun was quite sure she was a rakshas, or a demon, or some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried out, "what do you want? oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" poor laili answered, "don't you know me? i am your wife laili, and i want to marry you. don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, though i begged and begged you not to go, for i told you that harm would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face, and i became a heap of ashes. but khuda gave me my life again, and brought me here, after i had stayed a long, long while in the jungle crying for you, and now i am obliged to be a little dog; but if you will marry me, i shall not be a little dog any more." majnun, however, said "how can i marry an old woman like you? how can you be laili? i am sure you are a rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in great terror.