THE BAG OF GOLD.
Two men set off to walk from Bath to York, and said they would each share the same fate, come what might. All went well till they got half way, when one of them saw a bag of gold in the path, which he took up. “Ha!” said he, “I am in luck’s way. See, I have found a bag of gold! I will buy a horse and ride the rest of my way.” “My friend,” said the man who went with him, “when we set out you told me we were to share the same luck, be it good or bad; so you ought to say ‘we’ have found a bag of gold, not ‘I.’” “You may think just as you please,” said the man, “but as it was I who found the gold, I shall keep it, and do with it as I said, and wish you good day.” Just then they heard a hue and cry of “Stop thief!” “Come, I pray you,” said the man (who held the bag), in a great fright; “come, let us hide in this wood, for if the men find us with the gold, they will take us for thieves, and we shall get hung for it.” “How now?” said his friend; “you swore it should be ‘I’ when you found the bag, so pray let it be ‘I’ as long as there is fear of theft.”
A just man’s word is as good as a bond.
One gets the prize, and both bear the blame.