Page:Mad pranks of Tom Tram, son-in-law to Mother Winter (1).pdf/20

 20 MERRY TALES. ing gone, in came a spirit into the chamber, with his head under his arm, ſo that he durſt not ſtir, but cried out, Help ! help ! fire ! thieves ! thieves. So when they of the houſe came to him they aſked him, what was the matter! Oh, quoth he, the devil was here, and ſpoke to me with his head under his arm; but now I will go to bed, and if he comes again, I will find him to the tapſter to help him to make falſe reckon- ings: It being a cold night, quoth he, I will firſt put fire to toe, that is, I will warm my: toes by the fire, then I'll go to bed. And ſo he did, and a great reckoning the next morning put the ſcholar out of his jeſt, ſay- ing, that was in earneſt made too large a reckoning, he being but poor Sir John of Oxford.

TALE II.

ONE that was going to a wedding had a great occaſion to untruſs a point; whereup- on he went under a hedge, but the place not pleaſing him, he went under a hayſtack and then into a ſaw pit, and afterwards in- to a hog-ſtye, where he did his buſineſs. Now the other clowns that were with him, aſked him if he had done his taſk and days labour; Yes, quoth he, I have ſhit three ſhillings in nine pences, go and fetch then they are more than a day's labour will come to. So they went to the wedding houſe,