‘Well, if I must speak the truth, as you are so urgent for an answer,’ replied the old miser, ‘I don’t mean to say I haven’t often thought I should like a wife; but I am waiting till I find one who can live upon air.’[2]
‘Well, maybe there might be such an one even as you say,’ returned the busy neighbour; ‘though she might not be easy to find.’ And she said no more for that day.
She went, however, to a young woman who lived opposite, and said: ‘If you want a rich husband I will find you one.’
‘To be sure I should like a rich husband,’ replied the young woman; ‘who would not?’
‘Very well, then,’ continued the neighbour; ‘I will tell you what to do. You have only, every day at dinner-time, to stand at the window and suck in the air, and move your lips as if you were eating. But eat nothing; take nothing into your mouth but air. The old miser who lives opposite wants a wife who can live on air; and if he thinks you can do this he will marry you. And when you are once installed it’ll be odd if you don’t find means, in the midst of so much money, to lay hold of enough to get a dinner every day without working for it.’
The young woman thanked her friend for the advice, and next day, when the bells rang at noon, she threw open the window and stood sucking in the air, and then moving her lips as if she was eating. This she did several days.
At last the old miser came across under the window, and said to her: ‘What are you doing at the window there?’
‘Don’t you see it’s dinner-time, and I’m taking my dinner? Don’t interrupt me!’ replied the young neighbour.
‘But, excuse me,[3] I don’t see you are eating anything, though your lips move.’
‘O! I live upon air; I take nothing but air,’ replied the young woman; and she went on with her mock munching.