"I think that you're being too harsh?"said Jasmine, timidly.

"Harsh! Ha! It's no more than he deserves!"

"I agree with Aida."said Aladdin, remembering his first meeting with Achmed.

"Very well, Achmed, first, I guess you'll have to go to the kitchen. There, I'll ask them to give you some food, and perhaps some clothes. You'll have to wait for Francisco there. Then, well, we'll see what he has to say about this."

"The kitchen!"

"Yes, the kitchen. Where else? You don't suppose you can stay here with the guests, do you? Not in that condition! Pascuala! Take this…man to the kitchen, give him some water, some food, and some clothes. Keep him there until my husband gets back, and then, send him to him. We'll see if he'll hire him."

"Yes, Patrona."

Achmed followed Pascuala towards the kitchen.

"I didn't know him, but it seems kind of strange, that the same prince who threw me in the mud, and made me feel so worthless, is now heading towards the kitchen, and about to ask for a job as a field worker."

"I don't think he'll be worth his weight in gold, though. Achmed has never been the kind to do any work. He's purely ornamental, if you know what I mean. You'll never make anything useful out of him."

"Do you really think Francisco will hire him?"

"If I ask him to, I hope so. However, like I said, I doubt he'll last. I'm guessing he was hoping we would give him some money, and all that, so he could just keep living the same way he always has."

"Why don't you?"asked Beatriz. "He looks like he needs someone to lend him a hand."

"No!"said Aida. "Achmed doesn't deserve any of that. It's time he learned a lesson."

"I don't know if that's the way to teach anyone a lesson."

"For Achmed it is. You don't know him, Beatriz."

"It's still not right to attack someone who's already down."

"I'm not attacking him. I'm helping him."

Aida asked Francisco to hire Achmed.

"What could I possibly have him do, if he fits your description?"

"Oh, why not give him a shot? A taste of his own medicine."

"Well…I don't know. Let me see."

Aurelio led Achmed into the room.

"So you're this Achmed Aida has been telling me about? Let's see. I guess we could put you to help with the livestock. Please don't tell me you can't at least milk a cow."

"I've never done such work in my life."

"Oh, well, I guess you're just going to have to learn. There's no other choice, because I don't think you can do anything else. Do you know anything about…making things grow. You know, agriculture?"

"What do I look like to you?"

"A ragged…peon. Worse than a peon. At least they're clean most of the time, and they respect their superiors. You're going to have that to learn, too. I won't have you talking back to me in that manner, if you don't want a good whipping, and to go without food for at least two weeks."

"You can't have me whipped!"

"Oh, can't I?"

"Well, of course, you can't!"

"Keep on with that attitude, and we'll see if I can't."

Achmed looked up in disbelief.

"Fine, you're hired only because Aida asked me to, however, I expect you at sun-up tomorrow morning, at the corrals. Is that in any way unclear?"

Achmed couldn't believe that someone else was telling him what to do. All his life the reverse had been true.

"Now get out of my sight."

Aurelio led Achmed out of the room.

"I don't think he'll be worth his pay."said Francisco.

"Who knows? With a little luck, he just might."

"I doubt it, but I hope so."

Achmed had thought that the worse would be over when he read Dzonot. He never thought that he'd be grateful just to have a bed to sleep in. He slept in one of the same old shacks that the other workers slept in. Early in the morning, before the sun was up, someone came to wake him. Apparently, he had overslept. Then, he had never had to work his body so hard in all his life. The work he had to do was no easy task. It was doubly hard, watching the overseers, who kept watch to make sure that everyone did their work, riding by. He never thought he would feel envious of such people, but he did. At least they had horses, and were not on foot, and they weren't working so hard. And their orders were followed immediately.

"This can't be happening to me."he thought. "It just can't."

He remembered all the times he had humiliated people, the servants, even people he met when he was traveling to see another monarch. How they would laugh now. And the other monarchs! Why, they would have a field day! What so many of them wouldn't give to see him now. His back felt like it was going to break in two, just from bending so much.

"What are you doing?"he heard a voice ask.

"Just as I was ordered to."he answered.

"It doesn't look like it. I just got word from Big House, that the Patrona would like to eat mole this afternoon, and the turkey needs to be butchered."said one of the overseers.

"Would you like me to tell some one else?"

"No. I'm telling you. Go over to the hen coop, and find the best turkey. After you butcher it, send it to the kitchen."

"What! Me! Butcher a turkey! No, you don't understand! Couldn't someone else do it?"

The man raised his eyebrows.

"Absolutely not! I told you. Now get going."

"I've never butchered a turkey!"said Achmed to no one in particular, but he had no choice. It was an order.

Maybe he could get out of it by telling someone else, as if he were passing a message. He walked towards some of the other men.

"They want a turkey butchered."he said.

They didn't pay any attention to him.

"Didn't I tell you? They want a turkey butchered for today's meal."

"Didn't they tell you?"

"I'm only to pass the message."

"Pass the message? They don't pass messages. They only tell the first man they find. That's that."

"Well, it's different today. Someone needs to get the job done."

"Too true!"exclaimed the same voice that had told Achmed to butcher the bird in the first place. "What are you doing here, still? Shouldn't you be fulfilling orders? I shall have to talk to the Patron about you. Now get going!"

It looked like he didn't have any other alternative. He would have to do it himself. He walked towards the hen coop. He took a long knife, which he supposed must be to do the butchering, since it was stained with blood. He climbed over the fence, into the coop. He looked around. Well, he would just have to choose randomly. He didn't know anything about which birds would taste best. It turned out he only made a fool of himself. First, he couldn't catch any of the birds, and when he slashed, he killed one of the roosters, and apparently, when he climbed the fence, he had unlocked the door, and the birds went flying out.

"No! No! Se estan saliendo las aves!"he heard several children cry.

Several women and children went to see what was going on, and saw Achmed. They simply laughed, and the children went chasing after the birds. The men went to put them back in their coop.

"What do you think you are doing?"asked someone, taking the knife from Achmed. "What have you done?"he asked, noticing the dead rooster. "You were asked to butcher a turkey, not to cause a commotion!"

"What's going on?"

Aida, Jasmine, Aladdin, Cassim, Carpet, Francisco, Teresa, Adriana, and Genie, carrying Ali, came riding up.

"What's going on here?"

"This idiot, Patron. Apparently, he must have thought it amusing to cause such a display."

"Amusing, eh?"

"Yes."

Someone else went in, grabbed a turkey by its feet, slashed its neck and took it towards the house.

"Well, you certainly are creative, uh, it's Achmed, isn't it?"

"I never thought you had a sense of humor, Achmed."said Aida.

"Now we see he has."exclaimed Aladdin, who couldn't stop laughing.

A boy, holding a hen, came up, to put it back in the hen coop.

"You can keep it."said Francisco.

"I can?"

"Yeah, if you caught it."

"Oh, thank you, Patron."

Francisco smiled.

"See that it never happens again."he told the overseer, as he mounted his horse.

"Don't you worry. I'll see that this man learns his lesson."

"Right. I leave everything at your disposal, Bautista."

The man called Bautista took Achmed by the arm, and led him away from the fields.