on afterwards of starvation;
this shows what a fool I am."

Then one of the other men said "But I am a bigger fool than you." And
they asked him in what way; and he said "I was married and was very
much in love with my wife; once when she had gone on a visit to her
father's I went to fetch her home; and she was got up in all her
finery, with her hair well dressed and vermilion on her forehead
and red _arta_ on her feet. On our way home it began to rain and we
took shelter in a village; and when the shower was over we went on;
and we came to a river which was in flood from the rain; the water
was up to a man's armpits and I decided to carry my wife across so
that the _arta_ on her feet might not get washed off. So I took her
on my shoulder and to prevent her feet getting wet I held her feet
uppermost and as her head was under water when I got across I found
that she had been drowned; and if I had not been such a fool she
would not have been killed."

Then the third man said "And I also am a fool. I had quarrelled with
my own family so I lived with my wife in a house alone at the end of
the village and we had no children. Now I was very fond of smoking;
and one night I wanted a light for my hookah but there was none in the
house; so I started to go and ask for a light from some neighbour;
but as it was very dark I did not like to leave my wife all alone:
nor did I like to send her out alone to ask for the light; so at last
I took my hookah in my hand and set my wife astride on my shoulder
and went round from house to house like that, asking for a light;
and all the villagers laughed like anything; so I am a fool." Then
they agreed that they were all three fools and had better divide the
plantains equally among them and go home; and that is what they did.

CXXXII. The Cure for Laziness.

There was once a man who lived happily with his wife, but she was very
lazy; when work in the fields was at its height she would pretend
to be ill. In June and July, she would begin to moan as if in pain,
and when every one else had gone off to work she would eat any rice
that they had left over; or if there were none, would cook some for
herself; Her father-in-law decided to call in some _ojhas_ to examine
her and if they could not cure her, then to send her back to her
father: so he called in two _ojhas_ and told them to do their best,
as he did not want the woman's relations to complain that she had
not been properly treated.