rd'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 rode, the servant met a man coming in the opposite direction. So
he hailed him and asked him where he came from. And the man replied
that he came out of the very town to which the man was bound. Then the
servant asked him if the story they had heard about the bird with the
long beak was true.

'I don't know about that,' answered the man, 'as I have never seen the
bird; but I once saw twelve men shoving all their might and main with
brooms to push a monster egg into a cellar.'

'That is capital,' answered the servant, presenting the man with ten
florins. 'Come and tell your tale to the king, and you will save me a
long journey.'

So, when the story was repeated to the king, there was nothing for him
to do but to pay the thief the twelve hundred florins.

Then the two partners set out again with their ill-gotten gains, which
they proceeded to divide into two equal shares; but the thief kept back
three of the florins that belonged to the liar's half of the booty.
Shortly afterwards they each married, and settled down in homes of their
own with their wives. One day the liar discovered that he had been
done out of three florins by his partner, so he went to his house and
demanded them from him.

'Come next Saturday, and I will give them to you,' answered the thief.
But as he had no intention of giving the liar the money, when Saturday
morning came he stretched himself out stiff and stark upon the bed, and
told his wife she was to say he was dead. So the wife rubbed her eyes
with an onion, and when the liar appeared at the door, she met him in
tears, and told him that as her husband was dead he could not be paid
the three florins.

But the liar, who knew his partner's tricks, instantly suspected the
truth, and said: 'As he has not paid me, I will pay him out with three
good lashes of my riding whip.'

At these words the thief sprang to his feet, and, appearing at the door,
promised his partner that if he would return the following Saturday he
would pay him. So the liar went away satisfied with this promise.

But when Saturday mor