his
brother, how his brother had broken off the branch and had thrown it
away, and how he had spent the whole live-long day searching for it. And
to all the rich man listened and said never a word. But though he said
nothing, he thought to himself, "Maybe, after all, it is not the will of
Heaven that this man shall have the money. Nevertheless, I will give him
another trial."

So he told the poor beggar to come in and stay for the night; and,
whilst the beggar was snoring away in his bed in the garret, the rich
man had his wife make two great pies, each with a fine brown crust. In
the first pie he put the little bag of money; the second he filled full
of rusty nails and scraps of iron.

The next morning he called the beggar to him. "My friend," said he, "I
grieve sadly for the story you told me last night. But maybe, after all,
your luck is not all gone. And now, if you will choose as you should
choose, you shall not go away from here comfortless. In the pantry
yonder are two great pies--one is for you and one for me. Go in and take
whichever one you please."

"A pie!" thought the beggar to himself; "does the man think that a big
pie will comfort me for the loss of three hundred pieces of money?"
Nevertheless, as it was the best thing to be had, into the pantry the
beggar went and there began to feel and weigh the pies, and the one
filled with the rusty nails and scraps of iron was ever so much the
fatter and the heavier.

"This is the one that I shall take," said he to the rich man, "and you
may have the other." And, tucking it under his arm, off he tramped.

Well, before he got back to the town he grew hungry, and sat down by the
roadside to eat his pie; and if there was ever an angry man in the world
before, he was one that day--for there was his pie full of nothing but
rusty nails and bits of iron. "This is the way the rich always treat the
poor," said he.

So back he went in a fume. "What did you give me a pie full of old nails
for?" said he.

"You took the pie of your own choice," said the rich man; "nevertheless,
I meant you no harm. Lodge with me here one night, and in the morning I
will give you something better worth while, maybe."

So that night the rich man had his wife bake two loaves of bread, in one
of which she hid the bag with the three hundred pieces of gold money.

"Go to the pantry," said the rich man to the beggar in the morning, "and
there you will find two loaves of bread--one is for y