Page 16 - L'anatra dalle uova d'oro

shops, all kinds of wares, and set up in business.
His wife Fetinia made a favorite of a young clerk
in her husband's employ, and used to supply him
with money. One day when Abrosim was away
from home, buying some goods, the clerk called
to have a talk with Fetinia, and it chanced that he
then saw the duck that laid the golden eggs. He
was pleased with the bird, and, examining it,
found written under its wing in gold letters
"Whoever eats this duck will be a Czar."
He did not say anything to Fetinia about what he
had seen, but asked her to roast the duck for him.
Fetinia said she could not kill the duck, for all
their fortune depended on it, but the clerk
begged her so earnestly that she at last consented
and killed it, and put it in the oven. The clerk
then went off saying he would return soon, and
____
16