Page:Merry tales of the wise men of Gotham (10).pdf/20

20 this fool ? So the priest took his leave, and would not marry them. But he was instructed by others how to do, and was afterwards married. And thus the breed of the Gothamites has been perpetuated even unto this day.

TALE XVIII.

There was a Scotsman who dwelt at Gotham, and he took a house at a little distance from London, and turned it into an inn, and for his sign he would have a boar's head. Accordingly he went to a carver, and said, Can you make me a bare head? Yes, said the carver. Then, said he, make me a bare head, and thou'se hae twenty shillings for thy hire. I will do it, said the car- ver. So on St. Andrew's day, before Christmas, the which is called Yule in Scotland, the Scot came to London for his boar's head to set up at his door. I say to thee, speak, said the Scotsman, hast thou made me a bare head? Yes, said the carver. He went and brought a man's Lead of wood that was bare, and said, Sir, there