Disciplina Clericalis/Tale 14
XIV.[1] The Tale of the Golden Serpent
"It was saide of suche a Richeman in the Citee goyng, that a bagge ful with a thowsand talentis bare with hym and moreover a serpent of gold havyng eyen of jacynt in the same bagge, and al that he lost. And suche a poore man makyng ther his iourney fond it and yave it to his wif, and how that he found it to hir rehersed. The womman heryng this saide: 'That god hath yeven kepe we.' Another day a Bedil went bi the wey so to cry and to proclame: 'Who that hath founde suche money do yield it ageyn and without forfaiture or fraude he shall have therof an hundred talentis.' This heryng, the fynder of the money saide to his wif: 'Yield we the money and want any synne, we shuln have therof an hundred talentis.' To this the womman: 'If god had wold that he shuld enjoie the money he shuld nat have lost it. That god hath yeven kepe we.' The fynder of the money laboured as to yield it and she vttirly denyed it. And whether she wold or nold, to the lord he hath yold it and that he promised asked. The Richeman ful of wikkidnes saide: 'That me lackith another serpent wite yee.' This that he saide was[2] of a shrewde intencioun, as that he wold nat to the poore man yielde his promyse. The poore man saide he fonde nomore. And the men of that Citee fauorable to the Richeman, derogaunt and sharp agenst the fortune (f. 128) of poverte beryng hym haate, drewe hym and bitoke hym to the Right. Forsoth the poore man cried and swore, as it is above saide, that he fonde nomore. But while the word of this poore and richeman ran to the Ministres tellyng, the same smote and cam to the earis of the kyng. That as he had herd, called toguyder the Richeman and the poore and to hym[silf] comaunded to presente the money. Al thynges brought to the kyng, the philosophre whiche was cald the help of wrecchis with other sapient men cald and of his accusers to noye and to accuse, here and mark yee, the philosopher comaundith.[3] This herd [and] evenly moeved with pitee on the poore man, [he] cald hym vnto hym and saide: 'Tel me, my brother if thow have the money of this man? that if thow have nat, with help of god I shal deliver the.' To this the poore man saide: 'God knowith that I have yielded as moche as I have founde.' Than the philosopher vnto the kyng: 'If it please [the] to here, rightwis iugement I shal say.' The kyng heryng this praied hym to deeme and juge it.
Than the philosophre to the kyng: 'This[4] is moche more credible and gretter witnesse of trowth hath, and it is nat to bileeve nor trust hym that askith that he lost nat. And of that other partie it seemyth to me Right credible that this goode poore man fond nomore than he hath yolden, and forwhi if he were an evil or a fals man, he wold nat have yolde that he hath yielded, but rather conceled and hid it.' Than the kyng: 'What forsoth demest thow,' quod the kyng to the philosophre? The philosophre than, to the kyng: 'Take the money and yeve therof vnto the poore man an hundred talentis; and that remayneth kepe til he come that asked it, forwhi this money is nat his ; and this richeman went to the bedil and made hym to aske the bagge with ii serpentis.' Forsoth it pleased to the kyng this jugement and to al tho standyng aboute hym. Forsoth the Richeman whiche had lost the bagge heryng this saide: 'Sir, and my lord the kyng, in veray trowth I say to the the money was myn. But forwhi that I wold take awey that the bedil promysed to this poore man, yit hiderto I have saide I lacked another serpent. But now my kyng, have mercy on me and that the bedil promysed I shal yield to the pore man.' Than the kyng the money yieldid to the Riche and the Richeman to the poore; and so with the wit and engyne (f. 128b) of the philosopher the poore man was delivered."[5]
The link runs as follows in the Latin, beginning I, 25, l. 23:
The disciple: "This appears to be the spirit of philosophy, and in the light of this exemplum Solomon's judgment concerning the two women is not so remarkable."
The philosopher says: "Do not go on a journey with any man unless you have known him previously. If any unknown person joins thee on thy way and will learn about thy journey, tell him thou wishest to go further than thou plannedst for; and if he carries a lance go thou to the right; if a sword, go to the left."
The Arab corrected his son saying: "Follow beaten paths though they are longer than bypaths." And again: "Take a maid to wife though she be old." And again: "Bring thy wares to large cities though thou expectest to sell them cheaper there." To this the son: "What thou sayest about main roads is true.[6] For on a certain day when my companions and I wished to arrive in the city by sunset and were still a long way from it, we saw a footpath which it seemed would shorten the journey. But we met an old man and inquired of him about the course of that path. The old man said: "The footpath leads more direct to the city than the highway and yet you will arrive there more quickly by the highway.' When we heard this we considered him a fool, and letting him proceed along the highway, we turned into the bypath. Pursuing this path now to the right and now to the left, we wandered about until it was night and did not reach the city. But if we had followed the main road we would no doubt have entered the walls of the city." The father replied to this:[7] "It happened to us differently as we were following the highway to the city; there was a river before us which we had to cross by some means before we could enter the city. And so, as we were proceeding on the journey we found the road divided, one fork of Which led to the city through a ford, the other by a bridge. And then we saw an old man, of whom we inquired which of the two ways would bring us more quickly into the city. And the old man said the road by the ford was shorter by two miles than the road over the bridge. 'But, nevertheless,' he said, 'you will arrive in the city more quickly by the bridge,' And some of our party made fun of the old man, as certain of yours before did, and took the way across the ford. And some of them had their companions swept down by the current, others lost their horses and baggage, some had their clothes soaked with water, and others wept because their clothes were lost entirely. But we and our old man who crossed by the bridge proceeded without hindrance and any inconvenience and found them again, lamenting their losses on the bank of the river. To whom thus weeping and searching the depths of the river with rakes and nets the old man said: 'If you had gone with us across the bridge, you would not have had this delay.' But they replied: 'We did this because we did not wish to be delayed on the way.' And the old man answered to this: 'Now you are still more delayed.' Then we left them behind and joyfully entered the gates of the city. I once heard this proverb: 'The long road to heaven is preferable to the short road to hell'."
The fader saide to the sone:[8] "If thow be in the wey with any felaw, love thow hym as thisilf and thynk nat in any wise to disceive hym lest he disceive the, as ii Burgeis and a Cherl happed to felawship." Quod the sone: "Fader, tel me that as sum profite therof may be taken herafter." The fader saide:
- ↑ No. XVII in the original (I, 24, l. 18).
- ↑ Ms. 'this.'
- ↑ Lat. (I, 25, l. 3) Adductis omnibus rex philosophum qui vocabatur Auxilium Miserorum cum aliis sapientibus ad se vocavit eisque accusatoris vocem et accusati audire et enodare praecepit.
- ↑ Lat. (I, 25, l. 10) Iste homo dives bouns multum est et ut.
- ↑ After this tale the English version omits the immediately following link as well as the succeeding tales of the I,atin (No. XVIII) entitled The Path and The Ford (Lat. (a) Exemplum de semita (b) Exemplum de vado), cf. I, 26.
- ↑ Concerning a Footpath, No. XVIII (a) I, 26.
- ↑ (b) About a Ford (I, 26, f. 14).
- ↑ Lat. (1, 27, 1. 1) Arabs castigavit filium suum.