that men do to you in old age, if you linger so long; and God be with you, wherever you go. I must be going." "Nay, old churl, by God, thou shalt not do so," said the second gambler; "thou shalt not go so easily, by Saint John! thou didst speak just now of that traitor Death, who slays all our friends in this country. Have here my true word: as thou art his spy, tell me where he is, or thou shalt pay dearly for it, by God, and by the holy sacrament! For truly thou art one of his conspiracy to slay us young people, thou false thief!" "Now, sirs," quoth he, "if you are so anxious to find Death, turn up this crooked road; for upon my word, I left him under a tree in that grove, and there he is going to stay; he will not hide anything because of your boasting. See 120 125 130 135 See ye that ook? right ther ye shal him finde. Til he cam to that tree, and ther they founde "Brethren," quod he, "tak kepe what I seye; that oak? right there will you find him. May God, who "Brethren," said he, "take heed of what I say; I have a from here to my house, or else to yours for you know well that all this gold is ours then we should be in great felicity. But truly, it can't be done by day; people would say that we were highwaymen, and would have us hanged because of our own treasure. It must be carried off at night, with as much thought and care as possible. Therefore I suggest that we all draw lots, and let us see where the lot will fall; and the one to whom the lot falls shall go blithely and quickly to town, and bring us bread and wine secretly. And two of us will take good care of the treasure; and if the other does not waste time, we will take the gold tonight by agreement wherever seems best." One of them held the straws in his hand, and bade them draw, and see how it would come out; and it fell to the youngest of them. 160 165 170 175 And forth toward the toun he wente anon. That oon of hem spak thus un-to that other, Thou woost wel that our felawe is agon; That it departed were among us two, Hadde I nat doon a freendes torn to thee?" That other answerde, "I noot how that may be; "Shal it be conseil?" seyde the firste shrewe, "I graunte," quod that other, "out of doute, And immediately he set out for town. As soon as he was gone, one said to the other: "Thou knowest well thou art my sworn brother; I am going to tell thee something now for thy profit. Thou knowest well that our companion is gone, and here is plenty of gold that is to be divided among us three. Nevertheless if I can manage it so that it be divided between us two, would I be doing thee a friend's turn?" The other answered, "I don't know how that can be done; he knows that we two have the gold; what shall we do, what shall we say to him?" "May it be a secret?" said the first scoundrel. "If so, I will tell you in a few words what we shall do, and I will. bring it about." "I agree," said the other, "without hesitation, that, on my "Now," said the first, "thou knowest that we are two, and two are stronger than one. As soon as he sits down, get up, as if thou wouldst fool with him; then I will thrust my dagger through his sides while thou strugglest with him as if in fun, and do thou the same with thy dagger. Then, my dear friend, all this gold shall be divided between thee and me; then may we satisfy all our desires, and play at dice whenever we choose." Thus these two villains agreed, as you have heard, to slay the third. The youngest, the one who went to town, often he ponders the beauty of the bright new florins. "Oh, Lord," said he, "if only I might have all this treasure to myself alone, no man living under the throne of God would live as merrily |