The spinner said:—
"If these are not fine enough for you, then here are some others that will suit you."
And she pointed to a bare spot. The man declared that he could not see them.
The spinner replied:—
"The fact that you cannot see them proves that they are very fine; I can't see them myself."
The fool was rejoiced, and ordered some more of the same thread, and paid down the money for it.
III
THE DIVISION OF THE INHERITANCE
A father had two sons. He said to them:—
"I am dying; divide everything equally."
When the father was dead, the sons could not make the division without quarreling.
They went to a neighbor to help them decide.
The neighbor asked them what their father had commanded them to do.
They replied:—
"He commanded us to make equal shares of everything."
Then said the neighbor:—
"Tear all the raiment in two; break all the utensils in two; cut all the live stock in two."
The brothers took the neighbor's advice, and at the end neither had anything.
IV
THE MONKEY
A man went into the woods. He felled a tree, and began to cut it in pieces. He lifted the end of the tree on the stump, sat astride upon it, and began to saw. Then he drove a wedge into the cleft, and began to saw
