Page 19 - The Goose

to shit golden crowns, in such manner that one by
one they filled a large chest, and the shitting was
such that the sisters began to lift their heads, and
to look well fed and happy. Such was the show of
their prosperity that the gossip began to take
notice of it, and one day meeting together, they
spake thus amongst themselves, 'Hast thou seen, O
gossip Vasta, Lilla with Lolla, who but a few days
ago might have dropped down dead with hunger,
but who now have become so well-fed and well-
dressed that they live in luxury like great ladies?
Hast thou seen their windows always ornamented
with fowls and barons of beef, which stare thee in
the face? What can it be? Either they have laid
hands on their honour, or they have found a
hoard.' 'I am astonished and am become a mummy
with exceeding marvel,' answered Vasta, 'O gossip
Pearl mine, when they were ready to sink. I see
them in parvenus' splendours, which seem to me a
dream.'
They said these things and others, stimulated by
their surging envy, and they bored a hole in the
wall of the house of one of the gossips that
corresponded with one of the chambers occupied
by the two damsels, so that it might enable them
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