I will roam about the world, and until I find
three fools greater than you, I will not return home."
He had a bread-cake made, took a bottle of wine, a sausage, and some
linen, and made a bundle, which he put on a stick and carried over his
shoulder. He journeyed and journeyed, but found no fool. At last he
said, worn out, "I must turn back, for I see I cannot find a greater
fool than my wife." He did not know what to do, whether to go on or turn
back. "Oh," said he, "it is better to try and go a little farther." So
he went on, and shortly saw a man in his shirt-sleeves at a well, all
wet with perspiration, and water. "What are you doing, sir, that you are
so covered with water and in such a sweat?" "Oh, let me alone," the man
answered; "for I have been here a long time drawing water to fill this
pail, and I cannot fill it." "What are you drawing the water in?" he
asked him. "In this sieve," he said. "What are you thinking about, to
draw water in that sieve? Just wait!" He went to a house near by and
borrowed a bucket, with which he returned to the well and filled the
pail. "Thank you, good man. God knows how long I should have had to
remain here!"--"Here," thought he, "is one who is a greater fool than my
wife."
He continued his journey, and after a time he saw at a distance a man in
his shirt, who was jumping down from a tree.
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