Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/193

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king had an only son, whom he much loved. The young man was desirous of travelling, and obtained his father's permission to this end. After an absence of seven years, he returned, and his father, overjoyed at his arrival, asked what friends he had acquired. "Three," said the son; "the first of whom I love more than myself; the second, equally with myself; and the third, little or nothing." "You say well," returned the father; "but it is a good thing to prove them before you stand in need of their assistance. Therefore kill a pig, put it into a sack,