ayd: let a can_dell be light, and gette holy water; and
[he] wente to the gate _with as manye ser_uantes as durste go with him;
where the chaplayne with _muche con_iuracyon sayd: in the name of the
father, sonne and holy _ghost, I commande_ and charge the in the holy
name of God to tell me _wherefore thou_ comeste hyther. + This John
Adroynes in the deuylls _apparell_, seying them begynne to coniure after
such maner, sayd: nay, _feare not_ me; for I am a good deuyll; I am John
Adroynes your neyghboure in this towne and he that playde the deuyll to
day in the playe. I _bryng_ my mayster a dosen or two of his owne conyes
that were stolen in _dede_ and theyr horse and theyr haye, and [I] made
them for feare to ronne _awaye_. Whanne they harde hym thus speke by his
voyce, [they] knewe him well, and opened the gate and lette hym come in.
And so all the foresayd feare was turned to myrthe and disporte.

By this tale ye may se that men feare many tymes more than they nede,
whiche hathe caused men to beleue that sperytes and deuyls haue ben sene
in dyuers places, whan it hathe ben nothynge so.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] This story is merely the latter portion of the seventh novel of the
Seventh Day of the Decameron; but Boccaccio tells it somewhat
differently. It may also he found in the _Pecorone_ of Ser. Giovanni
Fiorentino, and in _A Sackful of Newes_. 1673 (a reprint of a much older
edition). In the latter there are one or two trifling particulars not
found here.

[10] A rabbit-warren.

[11] Net, Fr. _haie_.

[12] In orig. _and because_.

[13] _i.e._ ere, before.

+ _Of the ryche man and his two sonnes._ iv.

+ There was a ryche man whiche lay sore sycke in his bedde to _deth_.
_There_fore his eldest sonne came to hym, and besechyd him to gyue _him
hys_ blessyng, to whome the father sayde: sonne, thou shalt haue Goddes
blessyng and myne; and because thou hast ben euer good of condicyons, I
_giue and_ bequethe the all my lande. To whome he answered and sayd: nay
father, I truste you shall lyue and occupy them your selfe full well by
Goddes grace. Sone after came another sonne to him lyke wyse and desyred
his blessyng, to whome the father said: my sonne, thou hast been euer
kynde and gentyll; I gyue the Goddes blessyng and myne; and I bequethe
the all my mouable goodes. To whome he answered and said: nay father, I
trust you shall lyue and do well and spende and vse your goodes
_yourself_ * * * *

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