I, "I will stay here and await thy coming, and watch how affairs turn out
in thy hands."

The washerwoman departed, went into the city, called upon one of the
great families there residing, and requested to see the lady of the
house. She asked for a washing order, which she promised to execute to
the most perfect satisfaction. While the housemaid was collecting the
linen, the washerwoman lifted her eyes to the beautiful face of the
mistress, and exclaimed: "Yes, they are a dreadful lot, the men; they are
all alike, a malediction on them! The best of them is not to be trusted.
They love all women but their own wives." "What dost thou mean?" asked
the lady. "Merely this," she answered. "Coming hither from my house, whom
should I meet but thy husband making love to another woman, and such a
hideous creature, too! How he could forsake beauty so rare and exquisite
as thine for such disgusting ugliness, passes my understanding. But do
not weep, dear lady, don't distress thyself and give way. I know a means
by which I shall bring that husband of thine to his senses, so that thou
shalt suffer no reproach, and he shall never love any other woman than
thee. This is what thou must do. When thy husband comes home, speak
softly and sweetly to him; let him suspect nothing; and when he has
fallen asleep, take a sharp razor and cut off three hairs from his beard;
black or white hairs, it matters not. These thou must afterwards give to
me, and with them I will compound such a remedy that his eyes shall be
darkened in their sockets, so that he will look no more upon other lovely
women, but cling to thee alone in mighty and manifest and enduring love."
All this the lady promised, and gifts besides for the washerwoman, should
her plan prosper.

Carrying the garments with her, the woman now sought out the lady's
husband. With every sign of distress in her voice and manner, she told