ially whan they vnderstode the
matter and the cause of her thyrste.

Wherby ye may se, that nat without a good skyl the poet sayde:

_Ut flerent oculos erudiere suos._

FOOTNOTES:

[268] Orig. reads _no meat of_.

[269] Orig. reads _a fire_.

+ _Of the poure man, into whose house theues brake by nyghte._[270]
lxxxiii.

+ There was a poore man on a tyme, the whiche vnto theues, that brake
into his house on nyght, he sayde on this wyse: syrs, I maruayle, that
ye thynke to fynde any thyng here by nyght: for I ensure you I can fynd
nothing, whan it is brode day.

By this tale appereth playnly
That pouerte is a welthy mysery.

+ _Of hym that shulde haue ben hanged for his scoffynge._ lxxxiiii.

+ There was a mery felowe in hygh Almayn, the whiche, with his scoffynge
and iestynge, had so moche displeased a great lorde of the countreye,
that he thretned to hange hym, if euer he coude take hym in his
countrey. Nat longe after, this lordes seruauntes toke hym, and hanged
he shulde be. Whanne he sawe there was no remedy but that he shulde dye,
he sayde: my lorde, I muste nedes suffre dethe, whiche I knowe I haue
wel deserued. But yet I beseke you graunte me one peticion for my
soule[s] helthe. The lorde, at the instaunce of the people that stode
aboute, so it dydde not concerne his lyfe, was contente to graunte it
hym. Than the felowe sayde: I desyre you, my lorde, that after I am
hanged, to come iii mornynges, fresshe and fastynge, and kysse me on the
bare ****. Where vnto the lorde answered: the deuyll kysse thyne ****:
and so let hym go.

FOOTNOTES:

[270] This tale, which is a very old one, is also found in _Jests to
Make You Merie_, by T[homas] D[ekker] and George Wilkins, Lond. 1607,
4to. and in the _Philosophers Banquet_, 1614, 3vo.

+ _Of hym that had his goose stole._ lxxxv.

+ A man, that had a goose stoole from hym, went and complayned to the
curate, and desyred hym to do so moche as helpe, that he had his goose
again. The curate sayde he wolde. So on Sonday the curate, as though he
wolde curse, wente vp in to the pulpit, and bade euery body syt downe.
So, whan they were set, he said: why sit ye nat downe? We be set all
redy, quod they. Naye (quod the curate) he that dyd stele the goose
sitteth nat. Yes, that I do, quod he. Sayste thou that, quod the curate?
I charge the, on peyne of cursing, to bryng the goose home ageyn.

+ _Of the begger that sayd he was kyn to