A wealthy merchant who starves and treats his wife like a kitchen slave, is outwitted by her clever and ingenious tricks.
In a small town, there lived a man and his wife. Although the husband was a successful merchant, he was mean and miserly, and hated to part with a single penny. Begrudgingly, he fed his poor wife, but gave her just enough to keep her alive. Most of the time, she was half-starved, sometimes faint from hunger.
One day, his old friend arrived in town, and accidentally met him in the street. "Oh, my good friend," he said, embracing him affectionately, "how good to see you! Come to my house tonight, and have dinner with us." The friend gladly accepted the invitation. "I'll be along pretty soon," he said, "but I have business to attend to first."
Meanwhile, the merchant stopped at the market to buy the necessary supplies for dinner. "Woman," he said to his wife, "I invited an old friend to eat with us. Take this chicken, flour, eggs and salad greens, and make a decent meal of them, I'll be back as soon as I have finished with my business." As soon as her husband left, she kneaded the dough, plucked the chicken of its feathers, roasted it, and prepared the omelets and salad. As she cooked, rich aromas of spices and herbs filled the air. Unable to resist, she tasted the chicken. A few moments later, she tasted it again, then a third, and a fourth time. Finally, overwhelmed by hunger, she ate everything -- chicken, omelets, bread and salad.
Her hunger appeased, she suddenly realized what she had done.
"Oh, my God," she cried wringing her hands, "what shall I tell
my husband when he comes home?" To make things worse, just at
that moment the friend arrived. "Is this the house of 'Fulano?"
he asked. "I am his friend and he invited me to dinner." "Oh,
you poor man", said the wife, "I'm so sorry for you. You should
not have accepted his invitation. When you knew him many years
ago, he was a sane and practical man. But lately, he has developed
a very strange habit." "And what is that?" asked the friend
with growing alarm. "Well," said the wife, "everytime he invites
someone to dinner he puts that stick you see hung on the wall
up his behind." As soon as the man heard this, he said, "Show
me the shortest way out of town." The wife pointed the way,
and he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
A moment later, the husband arrived home. "Has my friend arrived
yet?" he asked. "Don't talk to me about him," she said, pretending
to be angry, "he came here all right, took all I prepared, and
ran off with it." Taking the stick off the wall, he dashed out
of the house, and soon caught up with him. But the friend turned
around, saw the stick, and ran even faster. Said the merchant,
"Just a little bit, just a little bit." But the man continued
running, shouting all the while, "No, nothing, nothing" and
ran until he was out of sight.
Dejected, puzzled, and out of breath, the man returned home.
"Did you find him?" his wife asked innocently, and fanned his
hot face. "Yes, but he ran away," said the exhausted husband,
"and wouldn't give me even a little bit."
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