A fool, in town, did wisdom cry; The people, eager, flock'd to buy. Each for his money got, Paid promptly on the spot, Besides a box upon the head, Two fathoms' length of thread. The most were vex'd--but quite in vain The public only mock'd their pain. The wiser they who nothing said, But pocketed the box and thread. To search the meaning of the thing Would only laughs and hisses bring. Hath reason ever guaranteed The wit of fools in speech or deed? 'Tis said of brainless heads in France, The cause of what they do is chance. One dupe, however, needs must know What meant the thread, and what the blow; So ask'd a sage, to make it sure. 'They're both hieroglyphics pure,' The sage replied without delay; 'All people well advised will stay From fools this fibre's length away, Or get--I hold it sure as fate-- The other symbol on the pate. So far from cheating you of gold, The fool this wisdom fairly sold.' [8] Abstemius. IX.--THE OYSTER AND THE LITIGANTS. Two pilgrims on the sand espied An oyster thrown up by the tide. In hope, both swallow'd ocean's fruit; But ere the fact there came dispute. While one stoop'd down to take the prey, The other push'd him quite away. Said he, ''Twere rather meet To settle which shall eat. Why, he who first the oyster saw Should be its eater, by the law; The other should but see him do it.' Replied his mate, 'If thus you view it, Thank God the lucky eye is mine.' 'But I've an eye not worse than thine,' The other cried, 'and will be cursed, If, too, I didn't see it first.' 'You saw it, did you? Grant it true, I saw it then, and felt it too.' Amidst this sweet affair, Arrived a person very big, Ycleped Sir Nincom Periwig.[9] They made him judge,--to set the matter square. Sir Nincom, with a solemn face, Took up the oyster and the case: In opening both, the first he swallow'd, And, in due time, his judgment follow'd. 'Attend: the court awards you each a shell Cost free; depart in peace, and use them well.' Foot up the cost of suits at law, The leavings reckon and awards, The cash you'll see Sir Nincom draw, And leave the parties--purse and cards.[10] [9] _Sir Nincom Periwig_.--The name in La Fontaine is Perrin Dandin, which is also that of the peasant judge in Rabelais (Book III., ch. 41), and the judge in Racine's "Plaideurs" (produced in 1668). Molière's "George Dandin" (produced 1664), may also have helped La Fontaine to the name. The last-mentioned character is a farmer, but, like the others, he is a species of incapable; and the word dandin in the old French dictionaries is given as signifying inaptness or incapacity. [10] The oyster and lawyer story is also treated in Fable XXI., Book I. (_The Hornet and the Bees_).