31 lines
1.9 KiB
Text
31 lines
1.9 KiB
Text
Sharing Joy and Sorrow
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There was once a tailor, who was a quarrelsome fellow, and his wife,
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who was good, industrious, and pious, never could please him. Whatever
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she did, he was not satisfied, but grumbled and scolded, and knocked
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her about and beat her. As the authorities at last heard of it, they
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had him summoned, and put in prison in order to make him better. He was
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kept for a while on bread and water, and then set free again. He was
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forced, however, to promise not to beat his wife any more, but to live
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with her in peace, and share joy and sorrow with her, as married people
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ought to do. All went on well for a time, but then he fell into his old
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ways, and was surly and quarrelsome. And because he dared not beat her,
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he would seize her by the hair and tear it out. The woman escaped from
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him, and sprang out into the yard, but he ran after her with his
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yard-measure and scissors, and chased her about, and threw the
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yard-measure and scissors at her, and whatever else came his way. When
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he hit her he laughed, and when he missed her, he stormed and swore.
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This went on so long that the neighbors came to the wife's assistance.
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The tailor was again summoned before the magistrates, and reminded of
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his promise. "Dear gentlemen," said he, "I have kept my word, I have
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not beaten her, but have shared joy and sorrow with her." "How can that
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be," said the judge, "when she continually brings such heavy complaints
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against you?" "I have not beaten her, but just because she looked so
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strange I wanted to comb her hair with my hand; she, however, got away
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from me, and left me quite spitefully. Then I hurried after her, and in
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order to bring her back to her duty, I threw at her as a well-meant
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admonition whatever came readily to hand. I have shared joy and sorrow
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with her also, for whenever I hit her I was full of joy, and she of
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sorrow, and if I missed her, then she was joyful, and I sorry." The
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judges were not satisfied with this answer, but gave him the reward he
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deserved.
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