Meanwhile, I send thee a quilt and an
extinguisher.'[FN#137] So she took the letter and returning
with it to the schoolmaster, said to him, 'What moved thee to
deal thus with me?' And she repeated to him what her neighbour
had told her of her husband's well-being and of his having sent
her a quilt and an extinguisher. 'Thou art in the right,'
answered he. 'But excuse me, good woman; for I was, at the
time, troubled and absent-minded and seeing the extinguisher
wrapped in the quilt, thought that he was dead and they had
shrouded him.' The woman, not smoking the cheat, said, 'Thou
art excused.' and taking the letter, went away.
THE KING AND THE VIRTUOUS WIFE
A certain King once went forth in disguise, to look into the
affairs of his subjects. Presently, he came to a great village
and being athirst, stopped at the door of a house and asked for
water. There came out to him a fair woman, with a pitcher of
water, which she gave him, and he drank. When he looked at her,
he was ravished with her and required her of love. Now she knew
him; so she brought him into the house and making him sit down,
brought out a book and said to him, 'Look in this book, whilst
I order my affair and return to thee.
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