So the judge sent his people out after the man, and they found the good servant, who had been going quite slowly along, and they found, too, the purse with the money upon him. As soon as he was taken before the judge he said, I did not touch the Jew, nor take his money, he gave it to me of his own free will, that Imight leave off fiddling because he could not bear my music.
Heaven defend us, cried the Jew, his lies are as thick as flies upon the wall.
But the judge also did not believe his tale, and said, this is a bad defence, no Jew would do that. And because he had committed robbery on the public highway, he sentenced the good servant to be hanged. As he was being led away the Jew again screamed after him, you vagabond. You dog of a fiddler. Now you are going to receive your well-earned reward. The servant walked quietly with the hangman up the ladder, but upon the last step he turned round and said to the judge, grant me just one request before I die.
Yes, if you do not ask your life, said the judge.
I do not ask for life, answered the servant, but as a last favor let me play once more upon my fiddle.
The Jew raised a great cry of, murder. Murder. For goodness, sake do not allow it. Do not allow it. But the judge said, why should I not let him have this short pleasure. It has been granted to him, and he shall have it. However, he could not have refused on account of the gift which had been bestowed on the servant.
Then the Jew cried, oh. Woe's me. Tie me, tie me fast. While the good servant took his fiddle from his neck, and made ready.
As he gave the first scrape, they all began to quiver and shake, the judge, his clerk, and the hangman and his men, and the cord fell out of the hand of the one who was going to tie the Jew fast. At the second scrape they all leaped up and began to dance, the judge and the Jew being the best at jumping. Soon all who had gathered in the market-place out of curiosity were dancing with them, old and young, fat and lean, one with another. The dogs, likewise, which had run there, got up on their hind legs and capered about, and the longer he played, the higher sprang the dancers, so that they knocked against each other's heads and began to shriek terribly.
At length the judge cried, quite of breath, I will give you your life if you will only stop fiddling. The good servant thereupon had compassion, took his fiddle and hung it round his neck again, and stepped down the ladder. Then he went up to the Jew, who was lying upon the ground panting for breath, and said, you rascal, now confess, whence you got the money, or I will take my fiddle and begin to play again. I stole it, I stole it, cried he, but you have honestly earned it. So the judge had the Jew taken to the gallows and hanged as a thief.
A countryman was once going out to plough with a pair of oxen.
When he got to the field, both the animals, horns began to grow, and went on growing, and when he wanted to go home they were so big that the oxen could not get through the gateway. By good luck a butcher came by just then, and he delivered them over to him, and made the bargain in this way, that he should bring the butcher a peck of rape-seed, and then the butcher was to count him out a brabant taler for every seed. I call that well sold. The peasant now went home, and carried the peck of rape-seed to him on his back. On the way, however, he lost one seed out of the bag.
The butcher paid him justly as agreed on, and if the peasant had not lost the seed, he would have had one taler more. By the time he returned, the seed had grown into a tree which reached up to the sky. Then thought the peasant, as you have the chance, you must just see what the angels are doing up there above. So he climbed up, and saw that the angels above were threshing oats, and he looked on. While he was thus watching them, he observed that the tree on which he was standing, was beginning to totter.
He peeped down, and saw that someone was just going to cut it down. If I were to fall down from hence it would be a bad thing, thought he, and in his extremity he did not know how to save himself better than by taking the chaff of the oats which lay there in heaps, and twisting a rope of it. He likewise snatched a hoe and a flail which were lying about in heaven, and let himself down by the rope. But he came down on the earth exactly in the middle of a deep, deep hole. So it was a real stroke of luck that he had brought the hoe, for he hoed himself a flight of steps with it, and mounted up, and took the flail with him as a token of his truth, so that no one could have any doubt of his story.
Three army surgeons who thought they knew their art perfectly were traveling about the world, and they came to an inn where they wanted to pass the night. The host asked whence they came, and whither they were going. We are roaming about the world and practising our art. Show me just once what you can do, said the host. Then the first said he would cut off his hand, and put it on again early next morning. The second said he would tear out his heart, and replace it next morning. The third said he would gouge out his eyes and heal them again next morning. If you can do that, said the innkeeper, you have learnt everything. They, however, had a salve, with which they rubbed themselves, which joined parts together, and they constantly carried with them the little bottle in which it was. Then they cut the hand, heart and eyes from their bodies as they had said they would, and laid them all together on a plate, and gave it to the innkeeper.
