and with that he told her that it was the daughter of his master at
Brussels, and how he had lain with her and made her pregnant, and on
that account he had left the place; and how also after his departure,
she became so big with child that it was perceived, and then she had
confessed to her mother who had seduced her, and her mother had sent her
to him that he might undo that which he had done, or else she must never
return home.

When the young man had finished his story, his wife who had been struck
by one portion of it, said;

"What? Do you say that she told her mother you had slept with her?"

"Yes," he said; "she made it all known to her."

"On my word!" she replied, "then she proved herself very stupid. The
waggoner at our house slept with me more than forty nights, but you
don't suppose that I breathed a word of that to my mother. I took good
care to say nothing."

"Truly," quoth he, "the devil takes care that the gibbet is not cheated.
(**) Go back to your waggoner if you like; for I care nothing for you."

(**) In other words, we are punished for our ill-deeds.

Thereupon he arose and went to the woman he had seduced, and left the
other one; and when the morning came and this news was noised abroad,
God knows that it amused many and displeased many others, especially the
father and mother of the bride.