ory--after all these before mentioned dishes, the lady
caused to be placed on the table a fine fat cheese, and a dish well
furnished with tarts, apples, and cheeses, with a good piece of fresh
butter--of all which there was not a scrap left to take away.

The dinner which has been described being thus finished, our preacher,
who was now as round as a tick, pronounced grace, and then said to his
hostess;

"Damsel, I thank you for your good gifts; you have given me a hearty
welcome, for which I am much obliged to you. I will pray to Him who
fed five thousand men with a few loaves of barley bread and two small
fishes, and after they were all filled there remained over twelve
basketfuls--I will pray to Him to reward you."

"By St. John!" said the maid-servant coming forward, "you may well talk
about that. I believe that if you had been one of that multitude there
would not have been anything left over; for you would have eaten up
everything, and me into the bargain, if I had happened to have been
there."

"No, truly, my dear," replied the monk, who was a jovial fellow with a
ready wit, "I should not have eaten you, but I should have spitted you,
and put you down to roast--that is what I should have done to you."

The lady began to laugh, and so did the varlet and the maid-servant, in
spite of themselves. And our monk, who had his belly well stuffed,
again thanked his hostess for having so well filled him, and went off to
another village to earn his supper--but whether that was as good as his
dinner I cannot say.

*****

[Illustration: 84.jpg The Devil's Share.]

STORY THE EIGHTY-FOURTH -- THE DEVIL'S SHARE. [84]

By The Marquis De Rothelin.

_Of one of his marshals who married the sweetest and most lovable woman
there was in all Germany. Whether what I tell you is true--for I do
not swear to it that I may not be considered a liar--you will see more
plainly below._

Whilst we are waiting tor some one to come forward and tell us a good
story, I will relate a little one which will not detain you long, but is
quite true, and happened lately.

I had a marshal, who had served me long and faithfully, and who
determined to get a wife, and was married to the most ill-tempered woman
in all the country; and when he found that neither by good means or bad
could he cure her of her evil temper, he left her, and would not live
with her, but avoided her as he would a tempest, for if he knew she was
in any place