“Spare!” quoth he. “If money can help, you shall not want.”
“No need to go so fast,” said she. “Whilst she is resting, I will go home; but I will come back if I am wanted.”
Now you must know that the old woman had on the previous day, when she left her daughter, instructed the doctor, who was well aware of what he ought to say. So the young man carried his wife’s water to the doctor, and when he had saluted him, related how sick and suffering his wife was.
“And I have brought you some of her water that you may judge how ill she is, and more easily cure her.”
The doctor took the vessel of urine, and turned it about and examined it, then said;
“Your wife is afflicted with a sore malady, and is in danger of dying unless help be forthcoming; her water shows it.”
“Ah, master, for God’s sake tell me what to do, and I will pay you well if you can restore her to health, and prevent her from dying.”
“She need not die,” said the doctor; “but unless you make haste, all the money in the world will not save her life.”
“Tell me, for God’s sake,” said the other, “what to do, and I will do it.”
“She must,” said the doctor, “have connection with a man, or she will die.”