The Lord went out to meet him, and said: Do not fear, for I will raise him; but tell me, on your honour, who did eat the kidneys of the kid? The minstrel replied: By that holy world whither I must go, oh my partner, I did not eat them. The Lord, seeing that he could not make him confess, had pity on him. So he went, and raised the dead man. And the other was set free, and received the recompense that he had been [[173]]promised. They returned home. The Lord said: O my partner, I wish to leave you, because I have not found you to be as loyal as I thought you were.

And he, seeing that it must be so perforce, said: I am content. Do you divide, and I will take my share. The Lord divided the money into three parts. And the minstrel said: What are you doing? We are but two. Said the Lord: That is indeed so; but this one part shall belong to him who ate the kidneys, and the others shall be, one yours and one mine.

Then the minstrel said: By my faith, since you speak this, I must indeed tell you that I did eat them. I am so old, that I may tell no more lies. And so such things can be proved for money, which a man will confess who would not confess them in order to save his own life[1]. [[174]]

[1] This tale was widely known throughout Europe and a part of Asia during the Middle Ages, and is still frequently found on the lips of popular tellers of tales. The oldest version of it is to be found in the Persian poet Ferid-ed-din-’Attar: see translation by Ruckert in Zeitschrift deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XIV, 280. [↑]

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LXXVI

Here it is told of the great killing done by King Richard

Good King Richard of England once crossed the seas with his barons, counts and brave and valiant knights, but he brought no horses, and so he arrived in the land of the Sultan.

And it came about that he gave the order for battle, and made such a great killing of the Saracens that the nurses say there to the children when they cry: Here comes King Richard, for like death was he feared.