Thus they attained their wishes. May Heaven grant that you may attain your wishes!
Three apples fell from heaven; one for me, one for the story-teller, and one for him who entertained the company.
THE TRICKS OF A WOMAN.
Serkis was a simple farmer who prayed every morning before he went to the fields, and every evening after he came from his work. One day his wife said to him:
“Husband, why do you not mention in your prayer that God may preserve you from the tricks of a woman?”
“Tricks of a woman?” exclaimed the man. “I am not such a coward as to be afraid of a woman or her tricks.”
“Is that your opinion of a woman?” asked his wife.
“Yes, that is my opinion of a woman,” answered Serkis sternly, as he shouldered his farming utensils.
The woman decided to give her husband proof of a woman’s power, so she bought some fish, and putting them in her apron, took them to the farm at noon, when she carried her husband’s dinner. The farmer went to the bank of a neighboring brook to eat his dinner, when his wife, taking advantage of his absence, buried the fish here and there in the field, and went home. Soon Serkis returned to his ploughing, and as the earth was turned, lo! fish came out of the ground. He picked them up, and in the evening, bringing them home to his wife, told her that he had taken them from the farm and that he believed the Creator had created them in that very place. He then ordered his wife to cook them, and on the following day bring them to the farm for his dinner. On the morrow, the woman cooked the fish, ate them herself, and took to her husband a bowl of pea soup for his dinner.