"Grandsire, come now with me."
So the merchant went with him to the stable, exceedingly heavy and
wrathful. The lad chose the best horsecloth he might find in the
stable, the newest, the largest, and the most fair; this he folded in
two, and drawing forth his knife, divided the cloth in two portions.
Then he bestowed on his grandfather one half of the sundered
horsecloth.
"Fair child," said the old man, "what have you done? Why have you cut
the cloth that your father has given me? Very cruelly have you treated
me, for you were bidden to give me the horsecloth whole. I shall
return and complain to my son thereof."
"Go where you will," replied the boy, "for certainly you shall have
nothing more from me."
The merchant went forth from the stable.
"Son," said he, "chastise now thy child, since he counts thy word as
nothing but an idle tale, and fears not to disobey thy commandment.
Dost thou not see that he keeps one half of the horsecloth?"
"Plague take thee!" cried the father; "give him all the cloth."
"Certes," replied the boy, "that will I never do, for how then shall
you be paid? Rather will I keep the half until I am grown a man, and
then give it to you. For just as you have chased him from your house,
so I will put you from my door. Even as he has bestowed on you all his
wealth, so, in my turn, will I require of you all your substance.
Naught from me shall you carry away, save that only which you have
granted to him. If you leave him to die in his misery, I wait my day,
and surely will leave you to perish in yours."
The father listened to these words, and at the end sighed heavily. He
repented him of the evil that he purposed, and from the parable that
his child had spoken took heed and warning. Turning himself about
towards the merchant, he said--
"Father, return to my house. Sin and the Enemy thought to have caught
me in the snare, but, please God, I have escaped from the fowler. You
are master and lord, and I render all that I have received into your
hands. If my wife cannot live with you in quiet, then you shall be
served and cherished elsewhere. Chimney corner, and carpet, pillow and
bed of feathers, at your ease you shall have pleasure in them all. I
take St. Martin to witness that never will I drink stoup of wine,
never carve morsel from dish, but that yours shall be the richer
portion. Henceforth you shall live softly in the ceiled chamber, near
by a blazing fire, clad warmly in your furred robe, even as I. And all
this is not of charity, but of your right, for, fair sweet father, if I
am rich it is because of your substance."
Thus the brave witness and the open remonstrance of a child freed his
father from the bad thoughts that he harboured. And deeply should this
adventure be considered of those who are about to marry their children.
Let them not strip themselves so bare as to have nothing left. For he
who gives all, and depends upon the charity of others, prepares a rod
for his own back.