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_TALE LV_.

_A merchant's widow, whilst carrying out her husband's will,
interpreted its purport to the advantage of herself and her
children_. (1)

In the town of Safagossa there lived a rich merchant, who, finding his
death draw nigh, and himself no longer able to retain possession of his
goods---which he had perchance gathered together by evil means--thought
that if he made a little present to God, he might thus after his death
make part atonement for his sins, just as though God sold His pardon for
money. Accordingly, when he had settled matters in respect of his house,
he declared it to be his desire that a fine Spanish horse which he
possessed should be sold for as much as it would bring, and the money
obtained for it be distributed among the poor. And he begged his wife
that she would in no wise fail to sell the horse as soon as he was dead,
and distribute the money in the manner he had commanded.

1 Whether the incidents here related be true or not, it is
probable that this was a story told to Queen Margaret at the
time of her journey to Spain in 1525. It will have been
observed (_ante_, pp. 36 and 42) that both the previous tale
and this one are introduced into the _Heptameron_ in a semi-
apologetic fashion, as though the Queen had not originally