The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Alfonce/Fable 3
¶ The thyrd fable speketh of a subtyle Inuencion of a sentence gyuen upon a derke and obscure cause.
It befelle somtyme that a good man
labourer wente fro lyf to deth /
the whiche labourer lefte nothyng
to his sone / but only a hows /
the whiche sone lyued by the
laboure of his handes pourely / This yong man
had a neyghbour whiche was made ryche
whiche demauded of the sayd yong man yf he
wold selle his hows / but he wold not selle it /
by cause that it was come to hym by inherytauce
and by patrymony wherfore the ryche man his
neygbour conuersyd & was ful oft with hym for
to deceyue hym / but the yong man fled his
company as moche as he myght / & whan the
ryche man perceyued that the yong man fled
from hym / he bethougt hym self of a grete
decepcion & falshede / & demaūded of the poure
yong man that he wold hyre to hym a parte of
his hows tor to delue & make a celer / the whiche
he shold hold of hym payeng to hym yerely rent /
& the poure yong man hyred it to hym / & whan the celer was made / the ryche man did do bryng
therin x tones of oylle of the which the v were
ful of of oylle / & the the other v were but half
full / & dyd do make a grete pytte in the erthe /
& dyd do put the fyue tonnes whiche were half
ful in hit / & the other fyue aboue them / And
thenne he shytte the dore of the celer / and delyuerd
the keye to the poure yonge man / and
prayd hym frawdelently to kepe wel his oylle /
but the poure yonge man knewe not the malyce
and falshede of his neyghboure / wherfore he
was contente to kepe the keye / And within a
whyle after as the oylle became dere / the ryche
came to the poure / and asked hym his good / and
the yong man toke to hym the keye / this Ryche
man thenne sold his oylle to the marchaunts /
and waraunted eche tonne al ful / And when the
marchaunts mesured theyr oylle / they fond but
fyue of the x tonnes full / wherof the ryche man
demaunded of the poure yonge man restitucion
/ and for to haue his hows he maade hym to
come before the Juge / ¶ And whanne the poure
man was before the Juge / he demaunded terme
and space for to answere / For hym thought and
semed that he had kepte well his oylle / and the
Juge gaf and graūted to hym day of aduys / &
thene he went to a philosophre which was procuratour
of the poure peple / & prayd hym for charyte / that he wold gyue to hym good coūceylle
of his grete nede / & he reherced and told to hym
al his cause & swore vpon the holy euangely that
he toke none of the ryche mans oylle / And
thenne the philosopher ansuerd to hys in this
manere / My sone / haue no fere / for the trouthe
may not faylle / And the next morowe after / the
philosopher wente with the poure man in to
Jugement / the whiche philosopher was constitued
by the kynge for to gyue the Just sentence
of hit / And after that the cause had be wel
deffended and pleted by bothe partyes / the
philosophre sayd / the same ryche man is of good
renommee / and I suppose not that he demaunded
more than he should haue / And also I byleue
not that this poure may be maculed ne gylty of
the blame / which he putteth on hym / but notwithstondynge
for to knowe the trouthe of hit / I
ordeyne and gyue sentence / that the oylle pure
and clene of the v tonnes whiche are ful to be
mesured / and also the lye therof / And after that
the pure and clene oylle of the fyue which been
but half ful to be also measured / and with the lye
thereof / and that men loke yf the lye of the fyue
Tonnes half ful is egal and lyke to the lye of the
fyue Tonnes / whiche ben fulle / And yf hit be
not soo / that as moche lye be fond within the
vessels whiche ben but half full as in the other / he shalle thenne be suffysauntly & ryghteoysly
proued / that none oyle hath be taken oute of
them / but yf ther be fond as moche lye in the
one as in the other / the poure shall be condempned
/ and of this sentence the poure was
contente / & the trouthe was knowen / wherfore
the poure man went quyte / and the ryche was
condempned / For his grete malyce and falsheed
was knowen and manyfested / For there is no
synne or mysdede done / but that ones it shalle be
knowen and manyfested.