“Why must I pay for what I have not eaten?”
To which the host replied, in anger:
“Give me your penny; for by sitting at the fire, and swallowing the savor of the meat, you had the same nourishment as though you had partaken of the meat at the board.”
Then Eulenspiegel searched in his purse for a penny, and threw it on the bench, saying to the host:
“Do you hear this sound?”
“I do, indeed,” answered the host.
Then did Eulenspiegel pick up the penny and restore it to his purse; which done, he spoke again:
“To my belly the odor of the meat is worth as much as the sound of the penny is to you.”
About this time came into being the tales of the Schildburgers, or Noodles, who correspond to the Gothamites of England.