o, he sayde: O thou folissh and madde man, goest
thou aboute to dyuine other mennes matters, and arte ignorant in thine
owne?

This tale (besyde the blynde errour of suche foles) toucheth them, that
handell theyr owne matters lewdly, and wyll entermedle in other mens.
And Cicero saythe: That wyse man, that can nat profytte him selfe, hath
but lytell wysdome.

+ _Of the plough man that sayde his pater noster._ xxvii.

+ A rude vplandisshe ploughman, on a tyme[185] reprouynge a good holy
father sayd, that he coude saye all his prayers with a hole mynde and
stedfaste intention, without thinkyng on any other thynge. To whome the
good holy man sayde: Go to, saye one _Pater noster_ to the ende, and
thynke on none other thinge, and I wyll gyue the myn horse. That shall I
do, quod the plough man, and so began to saye: _Pater noster qui es in
celis_, tyll he came to _Sanctificetur nomen tuum_, and than his thought
moued him to aske this question: yea, but shal I haue the sadil and
bridel withal? And so he lost his bargain.

FOOTNOTES:

[185] The orig. reads _whiche on a tyme_. I have therefore ventured to
strike out the unnecessary word.

+ _Of him that dreamed he fonde golde._ xxviii.

+ There was a man, that sayde in company vpon a tyme, howe he dreamed on
a nyghte, that the deuyll ledde him in to a felde to dygge for golde.
Whan he had founde the golde, the deuyll sayde: Thou canste not carye
hit a waye nowe, but marke the place, that thou mayste fetche hit an
other tyme. What marke shall I make, quod the man? S**** ouer hit, quod
the deuyl: for that shall cause euery man to shonne the place, and for
the hit shall be a speciall knowlege. The man was contente, and dyd so.
So whan he awaked oute of his slepe, he parceyued, that he had foule
defyled his bedde. Thus betwene stynke and dyrte vp he rose, and made
him redy to go forth: and laste of all he put on his bonette, wherin
also the same nighte the catte hadde s***; For great stinke wherof he
threwe away his couer knaue,[186] and was fayne to wasshe his
busshe.[187] Thus his golden dreame tournedde all to dyrte.[188]

Tibullus sayth: Dreames in the nyght begylen, and cause fearefull myndes
to drede thynges that neuer shalbe. But yet Claudian sayeth: Dreames in
sondrye wyse fygured gyueth warnynge of vnluckye thynges. And Valerius
Maximus wryteth that, as Hamylcar besiged the cyte of Syracuse, he
dreamed, that he harde a voyce saye, that he the nexte