repeat to the king what he had just told him. And when they got
back to the palace, they came together into the king's presence.

And the king asked him: ‘Well, is it true about the hops?'

‘Yes, sire, it is,' answered the servant; ‘and here is a man I
have brought with me from the country to confirm the tale.'

So the king paid the thief the three hundred florins; and the
partners once more set out together in search of adventures. As
they journeyed, the thief said to his comrade: ‘I will now go to
another king, and will tell him something still more startling;
and you must follow and back up my lie, and we shall get some
money out of him; just see if we don't.'

When they reached the next kingdom, the thief presented himself
to the king, and requested him to give him a cauliflower. And the
king answered: ‘Owing to a blight among the vegetables we have no
cauliflower.'

‘That is strange,' answered the thief. ‘I have just come from a
country where it grows so well that one head of cauliflower
filled twelve water-tubs.'

‘I don't believe it,' answered the king.

‘I bet you six hundred florins it is true,' replied the thief.

‘And I bet you six hundred florins it is not true,' answered the
king. And he sent for a servant, and ordered him to start at once