Falsehood soon began to be very busy and earned good money. She often thought of her agreement with Wickedness with regret, as she realized that she alone did all the business. She even said to him one day,—
“Look here, how easily can I carry on my trade single-handed?”
He merely reminded her of the agreement, [[22]]and day by day he wrote down in his ledger the sum total of the day’s takings.
At the end of the year, for the flood lasted twelve months, they came out of the ark. Falsehood brought home much treasure, but Wickedness came with her and claimed the whole of the hard-earned fortune. Thereupon Falsehood said to herself, “I will ask my mate to give me some of my earnings.”
She approached Wickedness and in a gentle voice said,—
“Dearest friend, please give me a share of what I have so honestly earned, for I alone did all the work.”
Wickedness looked at her in contempt and with harsh voice cried aloud,—
“Thy share is nought, O cheat! Did we not solemnly agree that I was to take everything which thou shouldst earn? How could I break our agreement? Would this not be a very wicked thing to do, now would it not?”
Falsehood held her peace and went away, well knowing that she had been foiled in her attempt to cheat her friend Wickedness. True indeed is the proverb: “Falsehood begets much, but Wickedness taketh all that away.”
(Yalḳuṭ, Psalms § 638.) [[23]]