Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/110

98 spoke, "Thou miserable varlet; this is thine own gold. But thou preferredst the cake of earth, and dead men's bones. I am persuaded, therefore, that God wills not that I return thee thy money. Without delay, he distributed the whole amongst the paupers, and drove the carpenter away in great tribulation. (16)

My beloved, the carpenter is any worldly-minded man; the trunk of the tree denotes the human heart, filled with the riches of this life. The host is a wise confessor. The cake of earth is the world; that of the bones of dead men is the flesh; and that of gold is the kingdom of heaven.