Atondido Stories
"Thanks, Godfather," she said. "We've got a hundred bush-
els."
"A hundred bushels!" the farmer repeated scornfully after the
child was gone. "A hundred bushels of what? Look inside the
measure, wife, and see if you find a trace of anything."
The woman peered inside the measure and found a golden
ducat lodged in a slit. She took it out and the mere sight of it
made her face and her husband's face turn sick and pale with en-
vy.
"Do you suppose those beggars really have got some mon-
ey?" he said. "We better go over at once and see."
So they hurried over to the shoemaker's cottage and they
shook hands with him and his wife most effusively and they
rubbed their hands together and they smiled and they smiled
and the rich man said:
"Dear Godfather, how are you? And how are all my dear
godchildren? And what is this good fortune that has come to
you?"
"I owe it all to you," the shoemaker said.
"To me?" the farmer repeated and, although he began to feel
sick inside to think that any one had benefited through him, he
kept on smiling and rubbing his hands. "Tell me about it, dear
Godfather."
"You know that piece of meat you gave me," the shoemaker
said. "You told me to give it to the Devil. I took your advice and
made the Devil a present of it and he gave me all these wonder-
ful things in return."
The shoemaker made the tablecloth spread itself, he made
the rooster crow and drop a golden ducat, and he made the
clubs dance merrily around the room and tickle the children un-
der the ribs.
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