The Thief and the Innkeeper
A Thief hired
a room in a tavern
and stayed a while in the hope of stealing something which should
enable
him to pay his reckoning.
When he had
waited some days
in vain, he saw the Innkeeper dressed in a new and handsome coat and
sitting
before his door.
The Thief
sat down beside
him and talked with him. As the conversation began to flag, the Thief
yawned
terribly and at the same time howled like a wolf.
The
Innkeeper said, "Why
do you howl so fearfully?'
"I will
tell you," said the
Thief, "but first let me ask you to hold my clothes, or I shall tear
them
to pieces. I know not, sir, when I got this habit of yawning, nor
whether
these attacks of howling were inflicted on me as a judgment for my
crimes,
or for any other cause; but this I do know, that when I yawn for the
third
time, I actually turn into a wolf and attack men." With this speech he
commenced a second fit of yawning and again howled like a wolf, as he
had
at first.
The
Innkeeper. hearing his
tale and believing what he said, became greatly alarmed and, rising
from
his seat, attempted to run away.
The Thief
laid hold of his
coat and entreated him to stop, saying, "Pray wait, sir, and hold my
clothes,
or I shall tear them to pieces in my fury, when I turn into a wolf." At
the same moment he yawned the third time and set up a terrible
howl.
The
Innkeeper, frightened
lest he should be attacked, left his new coat in the Thief's hand and
ran
as fast as he could into the inn for safety.
The Thief
made off with the
coat and did not return again to the inn.
Every tale
is not to be believed.
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