A facetia: two friars, a merchant, and a river crossing
A comic tale in which the Franciscans' fasting rule is turned against a stingy merchant
The whole sheet is filled with a single comic tale (a facetia). Two Friars Minor, forbidden meat in their convents but free on the road to eat whatever is offered, are cheated out of the only chicken at a poor inn by a stingy merchant who reminds them of their fasting rule. Later, carrying the merchant across a river on his shoulders, one friar recalls another clause of the rule, that they may carry no money, and on learning the merchant has coin on him tips him into the water. The merchant bears the witty revenge in good humour, half ashamed.
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The friars, the merchant, and the chicken revenged in the river
A merchant exploits the friars' rule against eating meat in their convents to keep the inn's only pullet for himself. In revenge, a barefoot friar carrying the merchant across a river remembers that his rule forbids carrying money, and, learning the merchant has coin, throws him into the water; the merchant accepts the payback with a laugh.
