Had it
been brought to France, however, in the manner suggested it
would, like other tales, have found its way into the works
of many sixteenth-century story-writers besides Queen
Margaret. Such, however, is not the case, and curiously
enough, so far as we can find, the tale, as given in the
_Heptameron_, was never imitated until La Fontaine wrote his
_Servante Justifiee (Contes, livre_ ii. No. vi.), in the
opening lines of which he expressly acknowledges his
indebtedness to the Queen of Navarre.--Ed.
"Unbelieving indeed, ladies, must be the man who, after hearing this
true story, should hold you to be as crafty as men are; though, if we
are not to wrong either, and to give both man and wife the praise they
truly deserve, we must needs admit that the better of the two was worth
naught."
"The man," said Parlamente, "was marvellously wicked, for he deceived
his servant on the one side and his wife on the other."
"Then you cannot have understood the story," said Hircan. "We are told
that he contented them both in the same morning, and I consider it a
highly virtuous thing, both for body and mind, to be able to say and do
that which may make two opposites content.
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