Full of joy, the man departed. But on the road home, in a solitary spot, he encountered two lads fighting desperately; they were dealing each other terrible blows, and blood was streaming down their faces. The man rushed up to separate them, but all his efforts only served to make them fiercer.
"Why do you fight like this?" he cried.
"We are fighting for that stone," replied one of the lads; "I saw it first!"
"No, you didn't," replied the other; "it was I, and it belongs to me!" and once more they fell to blows more desperate than before.
The poor man, fearing that the quarrel might end fatally, cried out to them—
"Here, take each of you one of these coins, and let alone the stone; it is of no value, for it is no bigger than a walnut. And be off with you!"
The lads were glad to take the money, and ran away, thinking themselves lucky to make so good a bargain.
His wife was at the cottage door impatiently awaiting her husband. Great was her disappointment when all he brought her was a stone.
"Well, to be sure!" she cried, after he had recounted what had taken place, "I am disappointed." And, taking the little stone, she threw it into a corner of the room.
"Dear wife," replied the man, "do not take it so to heart. The money was spent in a good work; in making peace between the children of our neighbours."