48 Readings in European History eating eggs. And I, opening my egg, discovered that there was a chick within ; but upon showing it to my companion, he urged me to swallow it straightway before the host caught sight of it, for otherwise I should have to pay a Carolinus or a Julius for a fowl, since it is the custom here to pay for everything the host places on the table, because they will take nothing back. Now if he saw that there was a chick in the egg he would say, " You must pay me for a fowl," — for he would charge for a little one just as much as he would for a big one. And I immediately swallowed the egg and the chick at the same time, and afterwards it occurred to me that it was Friday, and I said to my companion, " You have caused me to commit a mortal sin in eating meat on Friday." But he said that it was not a mortal sin, nor even a venial sin, since a chick may not be considered other than an egg until it is born. And he remarked that it is just the same in the case of cheese in which there are worms, and of the worms in cherries, and in peas, and young beans ; but they are eaten on the sixth day, and even on the vigils of the apostles. But inn proprietors are such rascals that they sometimes say that these are meat in order to gain thereby. Then I went out and thought about it, and, by Heaven, Master Ortuin, I am much disturbed, and I do not know what I ought to do about it. It is true that I might take counsel with a member of the papal court, but I know that they have bad consciences. As for myself, it seems to me that chicks in the egg are meat, because the matter is already formed and shaped into the members and body of an ani- mal, and it has animal life. It is otherwise in the case of worms in cheese and in other comestibles, for worms are accounted to be fish, as I have heard from a physician, who is also a very able scientist. I beseech of you earnestly to reply to my question. For if you hold that it is a mortal sin, then I wish to seek absolution before I go to Germany ; for you probably know that our lord, Jacob Hochstraten, borrowed a thousand florins from the bank, and I believe he would want to make
