So home he brought hym, and layde hym in his bed, and than he
fared with hym selfe, as thoughe he wolde gyue vp the gooste. Forth with
came the other felowes, and saide he hadde well done to lay hym in his
bedde. Anone after, came one whiche toke on hym to be a phisitian;
whiche, touchynge the pulse, sayde the malady was so vehement, that he
coulde nat lyue an houre. So they, standynge aboute the bedde, sayde one
to an other: nowe he gothe his waye: for his speche and syght fayle him;
by and by he wyll yelde vp the goste. Therfore lette vs close his eyes,
and laye his hands a crosse, and cary hym forth to be buryed. And than
they sayde lamentynge one to an other: O! what a losse haue we of this
good felowe, our frende?

The foole laye stylle, as one [that] were deade; yea, and thought in his
mynde, that he was deade in dede. So they layde hym on a bere, and
caryed hym through the cite. And whan any body asked them what they
caryed, they sayd the corps of Nigniaca to his graue. And euer as they
went, people drew about them. Among the prece[238] ther was a tauerners
boy, the whiche, whan he herde that it was the cors of Nigniaca, he said
to them: O! what a vile bestly knaue, and what a stronge thefe is deed!
by the masse, he was well worthy to haue ben hanged longe ago. Whan the
fole harde those wordes, he put out his heed and sayd: I wys, horeson,
if I were alyue nowe, as I am deed, I wolde proue the a false lyer to
thy face. They, that caryed him, began to laugh so hartilye, that they
sette downe the bere, and wente theyr waye.

By this tale ye maye se, what the perswasion of many doth. Certaynly he
is very wyse, that is nat inclined to foly, if he be stered therevnto by
a multitude. Yet sapience is founde in fewe persones: and they be
lyghtly[239] olde sobre men.[240]

FOOTNOTES:

[236] Knot, party.

[237] To grow faint.

[238] Crowd.

[239] Usually. See Nares, edit. 1839, _in voce_.

[240] This story is to be found in Poggius, who calls it _Mortuus
Loquens_, and from Poggius it was transferred by Grazzini to his
collection of Tales, not published till after his death.

+ _Of the olde man and his sonne that brought his asse to the towne to
sylle._ lix.

+ An olde man on a tyme and a lyttell boye his sonne droue a litel asse
before them, whiche he purposed to sylle at the markette towne, that
they went to. And bicause he so dyd, the folkes that wrought by the way
syde, blamed hym; wherfore he set v