h his companions, since,
as the saying goes, a good deed deserves a good meed. So he sent them
away content and happy; but he stayed with his father, rich beyond
measure, and saw himself a simpleton laden with gold, not giving the
lie to the saying--

"Heaven sends biscuits to him who has no teeth."

XX

THE STONE IN THE COCK'S HEAD

The robber's wife does not always laugh; he who weaves fraud works his
own ruin; there is no deceit which is not at last discovered, no
treachery that does not come to light; walls have ears, and are spies
to rogues; the earth gapes and discovers theft, as I will prove to you
if you pay attention.

There was once in the city of Dark-Grotto a certain man named Minecco
Aniello, who was so persecuted by fortune that all his fixtures and
moveables consisted only of a short-legged cock, which he had reared
upon bread-crumbs. But one morning, being pinched with appetite (for
hunger drives the wolf from the thicket), he took it into his head to
sell the cock, and, taking it to the market, he met two thievish
magicians, with whom he made a bargain, and sold it for half-a-crown.
So they told him to take it to their house, and they would count him
out the money. Then the magicians went their way, and, Minecco Aniello
following them, overheard them talking gibberish together and saying,
"Who would have told us that we should meet with such a piece of good
luck, Jennarone? This cock will make our fortune to a certainty by the
stone which, you know, he has in his pate. We will quickly have it set
in a ring, and then we shall have everything we can ask for."

"Be quiet, Jacovuccio," answered Jennarone; "I see myself rich and can
hardly believe it, and I am longing to twist the cock's neck and give a
kick in the face of beggary, for in this world virtue without money
goes for nothing, and a man is judged of by his coat."

When Minecco Aniello, who had travelled about in the world and eaten
bread from more than one oven, heard this gibberish he turned on his
heel and scampered off. And, running home, he twisted the cock's neck,
and opening its head found the stone, which he had instantly set in a
brass ring. Then, to make a trial of its virtue, he said, "I wish to
become a youth eighteen years old."

Hardly had he uttered the words when his blood began to flow more
quickly, his nerves became stronger, his limbs firmer, his flesh
fresher, his eyes more fiery, his silver hairs were turned