THE BOILED EGGS
The cattle-driver at first supposed this to be a joke, but the landlord assured him in full earnest that it could not be calculated a cent less. "You ate ten eggs," said he, "and if those had been hatched, there would have been ten chickens. They, too, might have laid eggs and hatched them, and—well, in four years it would all have amounted to four thousand dollars. I am reasonable, and won't carry the calculation beyond the four years."
The poor fellow protested, and said that such a sum was more than he possessed, or could ever earn, but all in vain. He was promptly summoned to appear before the chief judge or magistrate, on the following day, to defend his case if he could.
As he strolled about in the streets of the village late in the afternoon, a man stopped and asked the reason why he looked so crestfallen and dejected.
"Oh," replied the cattle-driver, "it is useless to tell; no one can give me any help."
"Don't be so sure of that," said the stranger; "I am a lawyer, and we men of the law are generally able to assist others in their troubles."
The cattle-driver, thus persuaded, now told the lawyer how the landlord of the inn had dragged him into the court because he was unwilling, and unable, to pay for the ten eggs and their offspring.
"Well," at length said the lawyer, "is that all?"
"Yes, that is all; and bad enough it is."
"Then put your mind to rest," continued he; "I shall appear in the court and settle the matter for
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