# The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Alfonce/Fable 4

Click here to create an annotated version of this text.
¶ The fourthe fable maketh mencion of the sentence gyuen up the pecuny or money whiche was found.
Ryche man somtyme wente by a Cyte / And walked fro one syde to that other / fylle fro hym a grete purse / wherin were a thousand Crownes / the whiche a poure man fond / and toke them for to kepe to his wyf / wherof she was ful gladde / and sayd / thanked be god of al the goodes whiche he sendeth to vs / yf he sendeth now this grete somme kepe we hit wel / And on the next morne after folowyng / the Ryche man made to be cryed thurgh the cyte / that who someuer had fond a thowsand Crownes in a purse / he shold restitue / and brynge them to hym ageyne / and that he shold haue for his reward an honderd of them / And after that the poure man had herd this crye / he ranne Incontynent to his wyf / & sayd to her / My wyf / that / that we haue fond must be rendred or yolden ageyne / For hit is better to haue a C crownes withoute synne than a thowsand with synne & wrongfully / And how ​be hit that the woman wold haue resysted / Neuertheles in thende she was content / And thus the poure man restored the thowsand crownes to the Ryche / and demaunded of hym the honderd crownes / And the ryche full of frawde or falshede sayd to the poure / thow rendrest not to me al my gold / whiche thow fondest / For of hit I lack four honderd pyeces of gold And whanne thow shalt rendre and brynge to me ageyn the sayd four hondred pyeces of gold / thow shalt haue of me the C crownes too whiche I promysed to the / And thenne the poure ansuerd to hym / I haue take and brought to the al that I haue found / wherfore they fylle in a grete dyfferent or stryf / in so moche that the cause came before the kyng / to be decyded and pletyd/ of the whiche the kyng made to be callyd before hym a grete philosopher whiche was procuratour of the poures / And whanne the cause was wel disputed/ the philosopher moued with pyte/ called to hym the poure man / and to hym seyd in this maner / Come hyther my frend / by thy feythe hast thow restored alle that good whiche thou fondest in the purse / and the poure ansuerd to hym / ye syre by my feythe / And thenne the philosophre sayd before thassistantes / Syth this ryche man is trewe and feythfull / and that hit is not to byleue / that he should demaunde more ​than he ought to doo / he ought to be byleued / And as to the other parte men muste byleue that this poure man is of good renomme and knowen for a trewe man wherfore the philosopher sayd to the kynge / Syre I gyue by my lenience / that thow take these thowsand crownes / and that an C thow take of them / the whiche honderd thow shall delyuere to this poure man whiche fond them / And after whan he that hath lost them shall come / thow restore them to hym / And yf it happeth that another persone fynde the thowsand & four C crownes / they shal be rendryd and taken ageyne to the same good man whiche is here present whiche sayth that he hath lost them / the whiche sentence was moche agreable and plesaunt to al the companye / And when the ryche man sawe that he was deceyued / he demaunded myserycorde and grace of the kynge sayenge in this manere / Syre this poure man that hath fond my purse / trewely he hath restored it to me all that I ouȝt to haue / but certaynly I wold haue deceyued hym / wherfore I praye the that thou wylt haue pyte and myserycorde on me And thenne the kynge had myserycorde on hym / And the poure man was wel contented and payd / and al the malyce of the ryche man was knowen and manyfested