Page:The fables of Aesop, as first printed by William Caxton in 1484, with those of Avian, Alfonso and Poggio. Vol 2.djvu/269

  of my lyf or my deth / the whiche his frend gaf to hym for to be his wyf with alle uche goodes as he had of her / the whiche he wedded / and retorned with her in to baldak. with grate Joye / but within a whyle alter it happed and fortuned o that this marchaunt of egvpte fylle in pouerte / and for to haue omme conolacion and comforte he tooke his way toward baldak / and uppoed to goo and ee his frend / And aboute one euen he arryued to the Cyte / And for as moche that he was not well arayed ne clothed / he had hame by daye lyȝt to go in to the hows of his Frend / but wente and lodged hym withynne a Temple nyghe to a Frendes hows

¶ It happed thenne that on that ame nyght that he laye there a man lewe another man before the yate or entre of the ayd Temple / wherfore the neyghbours were ore troubled / And thenne all the peple moeued therof came in to the Temple / wherin they fond no body auf only thegypcyen / the whiche they toke / and lyke a murderer Interroged hym why he had layne that man whiche lay dede before the portall or gate of the temple / He thenne eynge his Infortune and pouerte / confeed / that he had kylled hym / For by caue of his euyll fortune he wold rather deye than lyue ony more / wherfore he was had before the Juge / and was con-