TRANSLATION.
Once a gentleman told a Gipsy he might fish in his pond, and he would give him permission to do so for a shilling, but that he must only fish with a hook and a fishing-pole (literally, crooked needle). So the Gipsy went with India-drab (juice of the berries of Indicus cocculus) made up with bread, and poisoned all the fish in the pond, and carried away his waggonful. A long time after, the gentleman met the Gipsy, and said, “You thief, did you catch the fish in my pond with a hook?” “Yes, sir, with a hook,” replied the Gipsy very quietly. “And what kind of a hook?” “Sir,” said the Gipsy, “it was one of the long kind, what we call in our language a hookaben” (i.e., a lie or trick).
When you give a man leave to fish in your pond, you had better be present and see how he does it.