Page:Matteo Bandello - twelve stories (IA cu31924102029083).pdf/269

 the Prior continually raise his hand as if about to beat him), Master Neddy stood up on all fours and brayed with hideous vigour. By this ludicrous signal he proved to the Prior and the monks that he was not Satan after all, but an ass. The good friars were filled with confusion, not knowing what to say nor what to do. But the whole thing ended in loud laughter, as it seemed to them a mighty joke that young and old, philosophers and theologians, should one and all have been thus mocked by an ass. Rh