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THE HOUR-GLASS
41

well, they were sitting at the cross-roads playing cards. When I went by Carrigoras, where the friars used to be fasting and serving the poor, I saw them drinking wine and obeying their wives. And when I asked what misfortune had brought all these changes, they said it was no misfortune, but it was the wisdom they had learned from your teaching.

wise man. Run round to the kitchen, and my wife will give you something to eat.

fool. That is foolish advice for a wise man to give.

wise man. Why, Fool?

fool. What is eaten is gone. I want pennies for my bag. I must buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and strong drink for the time when the sun is weak. And I want snares to catch the rabbits and the squirrels and the hares, and a pot to cook them in.

wise man. Go away. I have other things to think of now than giving you pennies.

fool, Give me a penny and I will bring you luck. The fishermen give me leave to sleep among the nets in their lofts in the winter-time because they say I bring them luck; and in the summer-time the wild creatures let me sleep near their nests and their holes. It is lucky even to look at me or to touch me, but it is much more lucky