Then the two partners set out again with their ill- gotten gains,
which they proceeded to divide into two equal shares; but the
thief kept back three of the florins that belonged to the liar's
half of the booty. Shortly afterwards they each married, and
settled down in homes of their own with their wives. One day the
liar discovered that he had been done out of three florins by his
partner, so he went to his house and demanded them from him.

‘Come next Saturday, and I will give them to you,' answered the
thief. But as he had no intention of giving the liar the money,
when Saturday morning came he stretched himself out stiff and
stark upon the bed, and told his wife she was to say he was dead.
So the wife rubbed her eyes with an onion, and when the liar
appeared at the door, she met him in tears, and told him that as
her husband was dead he could not be paid the three florins.

But the liar, who knew his partner's tricks, instantly suspected
the truth, and said: ‘As he has not paid me, I will pay him out
with three good lashes of my riding whip.'

At these words the thief sprang to his feet, and, appearing at
the door, promised his partner that if he would return the
following Saturday he would pay him. So the liar went away
satisfied with this promise.

But when Saturday morning came the thief got up early and hid
himself under a truss of hay in the hay- loft.

When the liar appeared to demand his three florins, the wife met
him with tears in her eyes, and told him that her husband was