fe could not speak any more, for she was under the water; but what did
she do? She stuck her hand up out of the water, and with her fingers
began to make signs as if she were cutting with the scissors. What could
the poor husband do? He said: "I am losing my wife, and then I shall
have to go after her. I will pull her out now, and she may say that it
was the scissors or the shears." Then he pulled her out, and there was
no way of making her tell with what she had broken all those things in
the kitchen.[5]

* * * * *

Another familiar story is:

XCVII. THE DOCTOR'S APPRENTICE.

Once upon a time there was a doctor who took his apprentice with him
when he made his visits. One day while visiting a patient, the doctor
said: "Why do you not listen to my orders that you are not to eat
anything?" The invalid said: "Sir, I assure you that I have eaten
nothing." "That is not true," answered the doctor, "for I have found
your pulse beating like that of a person who has eaten grapes." The
patient, convicted, said: "It is true that I have eaten some grapes; but
it was only a little bunch." "Very well; do not risk eating again, and
don't think you can fool me."

The poor apprentice, who was with the doctor, was amazed to see how his
master guessed from the pulse that his patient had eaten grapes; and as
soon as they had left the house he asked: "Master, how did you perceive
that he had eaten grapes?" "Listen," said the doctor. "A person who
visits the sick must never pass for a fool. As soon as you enter, cast
your eyes on the bed and under the bed, too, and from the crumbs that
you see you can guess what the patient has eaten. I saw the stalk of the
grapes, and from that I inferred that he had eaten grapes."

The next day there were many patients in the town, and the doctor, not
being able to visit them all, sent his apprentice to visit a few. Among
others, the apprentice went to see the man who had eaten the grapes; and
wishing to play the part of an expert like his master, to show that he
was a skilful physician, when he perceived that there were bits of straw
under the bed, said angrily: "Will you not understand that you must not
eat?" The invalid said: "I assure you that I have not even tasted a
drop of water." "Yes, sir, you have," answered the apprentice; "you have
been eating straw, for I see the bits under the bed." The sick man
replied at once: "Do you take me for an ass like yourself?