“Pablo,” said he, “how dost thou like being a mule?”
Now, Pablo was cunning, and, not wishing to let the monk know what had happened, he answered—
“As for liking it, I enjoyed carrying the archbishop as much as he liked being carried; but I am not accustomed to such gay trappings and good living, so that I am afraid of injuring my health.”
“If that be the case,” continued the monk, “hold down thy head, and I will relieve thee of the danger; for, to tell you the truth, I find out that my wife is still living, and she recognized me although I was disguised as a monk. By my faith, I would rather bear my master’s harness to the grave than my wife’s tongue from morning till night! Caramba, I hear her knocking at the door! Dear Pablo, let us again exchange conditions.”
And Pablo, when he awoke next morning, was tightly grasping a beam, thinking he was the Archbishop of Toledo clinging on to the mule’s neck.
Now if you want some volumes nice,
You’ll start at once I’m su-er,
And go and fetch them in a trice,
From Messrs. Field and Tuer.—Punch.
EXTRACTS FROM
Field & Tuer’s List,