ey reached the next kingdom, the thief presented himself to the
king, and requested him to give him a cauliflower. And the king
answered: 'Owing to a blight among the vegetables we have no
cauliflower.'

'That is strange,' answered the thief. 'I have just come from a country
where it grows so well that one head of cauliflower filled twelve
water-tubs.'

'I don't believe it,' answered the king.

'I bet you six hundred florins it is true,' replied the thief.

'And I bet you six hundred florins it is not true,' answered the king.
And he sent for a servant, and ordered him to start at once for the
country whence the thief had come, to find out if his story of the
cauliflower was true. On his journey the servant met with a man.
Stopping his horse he asked him where he came from, and the man replied
that he came from the country to which the other was travelling.

'If that is the case,' said the servant, 'you can tell me to what size
cauliflower grows in your country? Is it so large that one head fills
twelve water-tubs?'

'I have not seen that,' answered the man. 'But I saw twelve waggons,
drawn by twelve horses, carrying one head of cauliflower to the market.'

And the servant answered: 'Here are ten florins for you, my man, for you
have saved me a long journey. Come with me now, and tell the king what
you have just told me.'

'All right,' said the man, and they went together to the palace; and
when the king asked the servant if he had found out the truth about the
cauliflower, the servant replied: 'Sire, all that you heard was
perfectly true; here is a man from the country who will tell you so.'

So the king had to pay the thief the six hundred florins. And the two
partners set out once more on their travels, with their nine hundred
florins. When they reached the country of the neighbouring king, the
thief entered the royal presence, and began conversation by asking if
his majesty knew that in an adjacent kingdom there was a town with a
church steeple on which a bird had alighted, and that the steeple was so
high, and the bird's beak so long, that it had pecked the stars till
some of them fell out of the sky.

'I don't believe it,' said the king.

'Nevertheless I am prepared to bet twelve hundred florins that it is
true,' answered the thief.

'And I bet twelve hundred florins that it is a lie,' replied the king.
And he straightway sent a servant into the neighbouring country to find
out the truth.

As he r