e midst of
the rejoicings Jennariello entered, as a third sharer in them, who,
after suffering so many storms of fate, was now swimming in macaroni
broth. But notwithstanding all the after pleasures that he enjoyed in
life, his past dangers never went from his mind; and he was always
thinking on the error his brother had committed, and how careful a man
ought to be not to fall into the ditch, since--

"All human judgment is false and perverse."

XXVI

THE MONTHS

It is a saying worthy to be written in letters as big as those on a
monument, that silence never harmed any one: and let it not be imagined
that those slanderers who never speak well of others, but are always
cutting and stinging, and pinching and biting, ever gain anything by
their malice; for when the bags come to be shaken out, it has always
been seen, and is so still, that whilst a good word gains love and
profit, slander brings enmity and ruin; and when you shall have heard
how this happens, you will say I speak with reason.

Once upon a time there were two brothers--Cianne, who was as rich as a
lord, and Lise, who had barely enough to live upon: but poor as one was
in fortune, so pitiful was the other in mind, for he would not have
given his brother a farthing were it to save his life; so that poor
Lise in despair left his country, and set out to wander over the world.
And he wandered on and on, till one wet and cold evening he came to an
inn, where he found twelve youths seated around a fire, who, when they
saw poor Lise benumbed with cold, partly from the severe season and
partly from his ragged clothes, invited him to sit down by the fire.

Lise accepted the invitation, for he needed it greatly, and began to
warm himself. And as he was warming himself, one of the young men whose
face was such a picture of moroseness as to make you die of fright,
said to him, "What think you, countryman, of this weather?"

"What do I think of it?" replied Lise; "I think that all the months of
the year perform their duty; but we, who know not what we would have,
wish to give laws to Heaven; and wanting to have things our own way, we
do not fish deeply enough to the bottom, to find out whether what comes
into our fancy be good or evil, useful or hurtful. In winter, when it
rains, we want the sun in Leo, and in the month of August the clouds to
discharge themselves; not reflecting, that were this the case, the
seasons would be turned topsy-turvy, the seed