, independently in the Mantuan collection
from which we take it, changing the name slightly to suit the conclusion
of the story.

CIX. CRAB.

There was once a king who had lost a valuable ring. He looked for it
everywhere, but could not find it. So he issued a proclamation that if
any astrologer could tell him where it was he would be richly rewarded.
A poor peasant by the name of Crab heard of the proclamation. He could
neither read nor write, but took it into his head that he wanted to be
the astrologer to find the king's ring. So he went and presented himself
to the king, to whom he said: "Your Majesty must know that I am an
astrologer, although you see me so poorly dressed. I know that you have
lost a ring and I will try by study to find out where it is." "Very
well," said the king, "and when you have found it, what reward must I
give you?" "That is at your discretion, your Majesty." "Go, then, study,
and we shall see what kind of an astrologer you turn out to be."

He was conducted to a room, in which he was to be shut up to study. It
contained only a bed and a table on which were a large book and writing
materials. Crab seated himself at the table and did nothing but turn
over the leaves of the book and scribble the paper so that the servants
who brought him his food thought him a great man. They were the ones who
had stolen the ring, and from the severe glances that the peasant cast
at them whenever they entered, they began to fear that they would be
found out. They made him endless bows and never opened their mouths
without calling him "Mr. Astrologer." Crab, who, although illiterate,
was, as a peasant, cunning, all at once imagined that the servants must
know about the ring, and this is the way his suspicions were confirmed.
He had been shut up in his room turning over his big book and scribbling
his paper for a month, when his wife came to visit him. He said to her:
"Hide yourself under the bed, and when a servant enters, say: 'That is
one;' when another comes, say: 'That is two;' and so on." The woman hid
herself. The servants came with the dinner, and hardly had the first one
entered when a voice from under the bed said: "That is one." The second
one entered; the voice said: "That is two;" and so on. The servants were
frightened at hearing that voice, for they did not know where it came
from, and held a consultation. One of them said: "We are discovered; if
the astrologer denounces us to the king as thie