The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Alfonce/Fable 4
¶ The fourthe fable maketh mencion of the sentence gyuen up the pecuny or money whiche was found.
Ryche man somtyme wente by a
Cyte / And walked fro one
syde to that other / fylle fro hym
a grete purse / wherin were a
thousand Crownes / the whiche a
poure man fond / and toke them for to kepe to
his wyf / wherof she was ful gladde / and sayd /
thanked be god of al the goodes whiche he
sendeth to vs / yf he sendeth now this grete
somme kepe we hit wel / And on the next morne
after folowyng / the Ryche man made to be
cryed thurgh the cyte / that who someuer had
fond a thowsand Crownes in a purse / he shold
restitue / and brynge them to hym ageyne / and
that he shold haue for his reward an honderd of
them / And after that the poure man had herd
this crye / he ranne Incontynent to his wyf / &
sayd to her / My wyf / that / that we haue fond
must be rendred or yolden ageyne / For hit is
better to haue a C crownes withoute synne than
a thowsand with synne & wrongfully / And how be hit that the woman wold haue resysted /
Neuertheles in thende she was content / And thus
the poure man restored the thowsand crownes to
the Ryche / and demaunded of hym the honderd
crownes / And the ryche full of frawde or falshede
sayd to the poure / thow rendrest not to
me al my gold / whiche thow fondest / For of
hit I lack four honderd pyeces of gold And
whanne thow shalt rendre and brynge to me
ageyn the sayd four hondred pyeces of gold /
thow shalt haue of me the C crownes too whiche
I promysed to the / And thenne the poure ansuerd
to hym / I haue take and brought to the al that
I haue found / wherfore they fylle in a grete
dyfferent or stryf / in so moche that the cause
came before the kyng / to be decyded and pletyd/
of the whiche the kyng made to be callyd before
hym a grete philosopher whiche was procuratour
of the poures / And whanne the cause was wel
disputed/ the philosopher moued with pyte/
called to hym the poure man / and to hym seyd
in this maner / Come hyther my frend / by thy
feythe hast thow restored alle that good whiche
thou fondest in the purse / and the poure ansuerd
to hym / ye syre by my feythe / And thenne the
philosophre sayd before thassistantes / Syth this
ryche man is trewe and feythfull / and that hit
is not to byleue / that he should demaunde more than he ought to doo / he ought to be byleued /
And as to the other parte men muste byleue that
this poure man is of good renomme and knowen
for a trewe man wherfore the philosopher sayd
to the kynge / Syre I gyue by my lenience / that
thow take these thowsand crownes / and that an
C thow take of them / the whiche honderd thow
shall delyuere to this poure man whiche fond
them / And after whan he that hath lost them
shall come / thow restore them to hym / And yf
it happeth that another persone fynde the thowsand
& four C crownes / they shal be rendryd
and taken ageyne to the same good man whiche
is here present whiche sayth that he hath lost
them / the whiche sentence was moche agreable
and plesaunt to al the companye / And when the
ryche man sawe that he was deceyued / he demaunded
myserycorde and grace of the kynge
sayenge in this manere / Syre this poure man
that hath fond my purse / trewely he hath restored
it to me all that I ouȝt to haue / but
certaynly I wold haue deceyued hym / wherfore
I praye the that thou wylt haue pyte and myserycorde
on me And thenne the kynge had myserycorde
on hym / And the poure man was wel
contented and payd / and al the malyce of the
ryche man was knowen and manyfested