“Hallo, hallo!” said the host; “have patience. What is done, is done. Let us bandage you up.”
The gelder did all that was necessary, and then went away, expecting a handsome present from the host.
It need not be said that the curé was much grieved at this deprivation, and he reviled the host, who was the cause of the mischief, but God knows he excused himself well, and said that if the gelder had not disappeared so quickly, he would have served him so that he would never have cut any one again.
“As you imagine,” he said, “I am greatly grieved at your misfortune, and still more that it should have happened in my inn.”
The news soon spread through the town, and it need not be said that many damsels were vexed to find themselves deprived of the cure’s instrument, but on the other hand the long-suffering husbands were so happy that I could neither speak nor write the tenth part of their joy.
Thus, as you have heard, was the curé, who had deceived and duped so many others, punished. Never after that did he dare to show himself amongst men, but soon afterwards ended in grief and seclusion his miserable life.
