"Take care!" cried Peter. "Look out that my sheep don't jump on the bridge."
"I care not where they jump," said Hodge; "but they shall not go over it."
"But they shall," said Peter.
"Have a care," said Hodge; "for if you say too much, I will put my fingers in your mouth."
"Will you?" said Peter.
Just then another man of Gotham came from the market with a sack of meal on his horse. He heard his neigh-bors quar-rel-ing about sheep; but he could see no sheep between them, and so he stopped and spoke to them.
"Ah, you foolish fellows!" he cried. "It is strange that you will never learn wisdom.—Come here, Peter, and help me lay my sack on my shoul-der."
Peter did so, and the man carried his meal to the side of the bridge.
"Now look at me," he said, "and learn a lesson." And he opened the mouth of the sack, and poured all the meal into the river.
"Now, neighbors," he said, "can you tell how much meal is in my sack?"