Page:Comical history of the king & the cobler.pdf/22



22                                C H A P. VI.

How the Cobler became a Courtier.

Now the king considering the pleasant humour of the cobler; how innocently merry he was and free from any de- sign; that he was, a person that labour- ed very hard, and took a great deal of                     pains, for a small livelihood, was pleas- ed, out of his princely grace & favour, to allow him a liberal annuity of forty merks a year, for the better support of                     his jolly humour, and the maintenance of his wife Joan, and that he should be                     admitted one of his courtiers, and that he might have the freedom of his cellar whenever he pleased.

Which being so much beyond ex- pectation, did highly exalt the cobler's                     humour, much to the satisfaction of                      the king.

So after a great many legs and scrapes, he returned home to his wife