er of their children, he replied that
the blessing was bestowed and there was no help for it. "Oh!" said Adam
in anguish, "what will become of them?" The Lord replied: "Let those who
are not blessed serve the others, and let those who are blessed support
them." "And this is why in the world half are rich and half are poor,
and the latter serve the former, and the former support the latter."

The last of these legends which I shall mention is entitled: "All things
are done for money." ("_Tutti cosi su' fatti pri dinari._") There once
died a poor beggar who had led a pious life, and was destined for
paradise. When his soul arrived at the gate and knocked, St. Peter asked
who he was and told him to wait. The poor soul waited two months behind
the gate, but St. Peter did not open it for him. Meanwhile, a wealthy
baron died and went, exceptionally, to paradise. His soul did not need
even to knock, for the gate was thrown open, and St. Peter exclaimed:
"Throw open the gate, let the baron pass! Come in Sir Baron, your
servant, what an honor!" The soul of the beggar squeezed in, and said to
himself: "The world is not the only one who worships money; in heaven
itself there is this law, that all things are done for money."

[5] Pitre, No. 126, where other Sicilian versions are mentioned. A
version from Siena is in T. Gradi, _Proverbi e Modi di dire_, p. 23,
repeated in the same author's _Saggio di Letture varie_, p. 52, and
followed by an article by Tommaseo, originally printed in the
_Institutore_ of Turin, in which Servian and Greek parallels are given.
Besides the Venetian variant mentioned in the text, there are versions
from Umbria and Piedmont cited by Pitre, a Tuscan one in _Nov. tosc._
No. 26, and one from the Tyrol in Schneller, No. 4. Pitre, in his notes
to _Nov. tosc._ No. 26, mentions several other versions from Piedmont,
Friuli, and Benevento. An exact version is also found in Corsica: see
Ortoli, p. 235.

[6] This reminds one of the "Sabbath of the Damned:" see Douhet,
_Dictionnaire des Legendes_, Paris, 1855, p. 1040.

[7] Pitre, in a note to this story, mentions several proverbial sayings
in which Pilate's name occurs: "To wash one's hands of the matter like
Pilate," and "To come into a thing like Pilate in the Creed," to express
engaging in a matter unwillingly, or to indicate something that is _mal
a propos_.

[8] Pitre, I. p. cxxxvii., and Pitre, _Appunti di Botanica popolare
siciliana_, in the _Rivista Eu