Page:The fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio. Vol 2.djvu/188



E is not wye / whiche for to haue vanyte and his pleyr taketh debate or tryf / As hit appiereth by this fable / Of a man whiche hadde thre children / and at the houre of his dethe he / and gaf to them his herytage or lyuehode / a grete pere tree / a gote & a mylle /   ¶ And whanne the fader was deed / the bretheren aembled them thre to gyder / and wente before the Juge for to parte their lyuehode / and ayd to the Juge / My lord the Juge / Oure fader is dede whiche hath byquethed to vs thre bretheren al his herytage and as moche of hit hold haue the one as the other And thenne the Juge / what was theyr lyuehode / And they anuerd a pere tree / a gote and a mylle / And thenne the Juge ayd to them / that they hold ette and make partyes of your  / And the one to haue as moche of hit as the other / hit is a thynge moche dyffycyle to doo / but to your aduys how hold ye parte it /