“Let us alone!” the men cried. “He deserves the abuse we are giving him! When he was alive he borrowed money from us all and then he died without repaying us. Are we to have no satisfaction at all?”
With that they resumed their abuse of the dead body.
“Wait!” Matti cried. “Tell me what the dead man owed you and I will pay it!”
“He owed me ten ducats!” said one.
“And me a hundred!” shouted another.
“And me five hundred!”
“And me a thousand!”
“Come all of you to my house,” Matti said, “and I will pay you, but only on condition that first you hand over the body to me and help me give it a decent burial.”
The men agreed. They helped Matti bury the dead man and then went home with him.
Each told Matti the amount the dead man owed him and, true to his promise, Matti paid them all.