hat was more, Babo had to pay back the
two hundred pennies that the cook had given him for curing his wife.

The wise man made a cross upon the woman's forehead, and up she sat, as
well--but no better--as before.

"And now be off," said the cook, "or I will call the servants and give
you both a drubbing for a pair of scamps."

Simon Agricola said never a word until they had gotten out of the town.
There his anger boiled over, like water into the fire. "Look," said he
to Babo: "Born a fool, live a fool, die a fool.' I want no more of you.
Here are two roads; you take one, and I will take the other."

"What!" said Babo, "am I to travel the rest of the way alone? And then,
besides, how about the fortune you promised me?"

"Never mind that," said Simon Agricola; "I have not made my own fortune
yet."

"Well, at least pay me something for my wages," said Babo.

"How shall I pay you?" said Simon Agricola. "I have not a single groat
in the world."

"What!" said Babo, "have you nothing to give me?"

"I can give you a piece of advice."

"Well," said Babo, "that is better than nothing, so let me have it."

"Here it is," said Simon Agricola: "Think well! Think well!--before you
do what you are about to do, think well!'"

"Thank you!" said Babo; and then the one went one way, and the other the
other.

(You may go with the wise man if you choose, but I shall jog along with
the simpleton.)

After Babo had travelled for a while, he knew not whither, night caught
him, and he lay down under a hedge to sleep. There he lay, and snored
away like a saw-mill, for he was wearied with his long journeying.

Now it chanced that that same night two thieves had broken into a
miser's house, and had stolen an iron pot full of gold money. Day broke
before they reached home, so down they sat to consider the matter; and
the place where they seated themselves was on the other side of the
hedge where Babo lay. The older thief was for carrying the money home
under his coat; the younger was for burying it until night had come
again. They squabbled and bickered and argued till the noise they made
wakened Babo, and he sat up. The first thing he thought of was the
advice that the doctor had given him the evening before.

"Think well!'" he bawled out; "think well! before you do what you are
about to do, think well!'"

When the two thieves heard Babo's piece of advice, they thought that the
judge's officers were after them for sure and certa