Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/71

Rh a serious falling out, and then there will be a long reckoning, my lad!"

"Softly, mother," replied Vardiello; "matters are not so bad as they seem: do you want more than crown-pieces bran new from the mint? do you think me a fool, and that I don't know what I am about? Tomorrow is not yet here—wait awhile, and you shall see whether I know how to fit a handle to a shovel."

The next morning, as soon as the shades of Night, pursued by the constables of the Sun, had fled the country, Vardiello repaired to the courtyard where the statue stood, and said, "Good-day, friend! can you give me those few pence you owe me? come, quick, pay me for the cloth!" But when he saw that the statue remained speechless, he took up a stone, and hurled it at its breast with such force that it burst a vein, which proved indeed the cure to his own malady; for some pieces of the statue falling off, he discovered a pot full of golden crown-pieces. Then taking it in both his hands, off he ran home, head over heels, as fast as he could scamper, crying out, "Mother, mother! see here, what a lot of red lupins I've got! how many, how many!"

His mother, seeing the crown-pieces, and knowing very well that Vardiello would soon make the matter public, told him to stand at the door, until the man with milk and new-made cheese came past, as she wanted