After a while, however, the Knave saw a stir in the direction of the farm they had left, and he quickly perceived that the loss of the goose was known, and that the farmer and his men were in pursuit of the thief.  So, hastily picking up the goose, he overtook the Fool, and pressed it into his arms, saying, “Dear friend, pardon a passing ill humour, of which I sincerely repent.  Are we not partners in good luck and ill?  I was wrong, dear friend; and, in token of my penitence, the goose shall be yours alone.  And here are a few plums with which you may refresh yourself by the wayside.  As for me, I will hasten on to the next farm, and see if I can beg a bottle of wine to wash down the dinner, and drink to our good-fellowship.”  And before the Fool could thank him, the Knave was off like the wind.

By and by the farmer and his men came up, and found the Fool eating the plums, with the goose on the grass beside him.

They hurried him off to the justice, where his own story met with no credit.  The woman of the next farm came up also, and recognized him for the man who had begged at her door the day she lost a ham and two new loaves.  In vain he said that these things also had been given to his friend.  The friend never appeared; and the poor Fool was whipped and put in the stocks.

Towards evening the Knave hurried up to the village green, where his friend sat doing penance for the theft.

“My dear friend,” said he, “what do I see?  Is such cruelty possible?  But I hear that the justice is not above a bribe, and we must at any cost obtain your release.  I am going at once to pawn my own boots and cloak, and everything about me that I can spare, and if you have anything to add, this is no time to hesitate.”

The poor Fool begged his friend to draw off his boots, and to take his hat and coat as well, and to make all speed on his charitable errand.

The Knave, took all that he could get, and, leaving his friend sitting in the stocks in his shirt-sleeves, he disappeared as swiftly as one could wish a man to carry a reprieve.

For those good folks to whom everything must be explained in full, it may be added that the Knave did not come back, and that he kept the clothes.

It was very hard on the Fool; but what can one expect if he keeps company with a Knave?

UNDER THE SUN.

There once lived a farmer who was so avaricious and miserly, and so hard and close in all his dealings that, as folks say, he would skin a flint.  A Jew and a Yorkshireman had each tried to bargain with him, and both had had the worst of it.  It is needless to say that he never either gave or lent.

Now, by thus scraping, and saving, and grinding for many years, he had become almost wealthy; though, indeed, he was no better fed and dressed than if he had not a penny to bless himself with.  But what vexed him sorely was that his next neighbour’s farm prospered in all matters better than his own; and this, although the owner was as open-handed as our farmer was stingy.