when the evidence on both sides had
been heard, the judge decided in favour of the poor man, which made the
rich lady more furious than ever, and she determined not to rest until
she had gained the day. If one judge would not give her the houses
another should, and so time after time the case was tried over again,
till at last it came before the highest judge of all, in the city of
Evora. Her husband was heartily tired and ashamed of the whole affair,
but his weakness in not putting a stop to it in the beginning had got
him into this difficulty, and now he was forced to go on.

On the same day the two brothers set out on their journey to the city,
the rich one on horseback, with plenty of food in his knapsack, the poor
one on foot with nothing but a piece of bread and four onions to eat on
the way. The road was hilly and neither could go very fast, and when
night fell, they were both glad to see some lights in a window a little
distance in front of them.

The lights turned out to have been placed there by a farmer, who had
planned to have a particularly good supper as it was his wife's
birthday, and bade the rich man enter and sit down, while he himself
took the horse to the stable. The poor man asked timidly if he might
spend the night in a corner, adding that he had brought his own supper
with him. Another time permission might have been refused him, for the
farmer was no lover of humble folk, but now he gave the elder brother
leave to come in, pointing out a wooden chair where he could sit.

Supper was soon served, and very glad the younger brother was to eat it,
for his long ride had made him very hungry. The farmer's wife, however,
would touch nothing, and at last declared that the only supper she
wanted was one of the onions the poor man was cooking at the fire. Of
course he gave it to her, though he would gladly have eaten it himself,
as three onions are not much at the end of a long day's walk, and soon
after they all went to sleep, the poor man making himself as comfortable
as he could in his corner.

* * * * *

A few hours later the farmer was aroused by the cries and groans of his
wife.

'Oh, I feel so ill, I'm sure I'm going to die,' wept she. 'It was that
onion, I know it was. I wish I had never eaten it. It must have been
poisoned.'

'If the man has poisoned you he shall pay for it,' said her husband, and
seizing a thick stick he ran downstairs and began to beat the p