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"Oh dear me, that's twice!"

THE PEASANT AND HIS ASS

THERE once lived a poor peasant. I do not know his name, but he earned a living by gathering dead wood in the forest, and he had a donkey who was no bigger ass than himself. Perhaps by this you will be able to recognize him.

One day the peasant hitched his donkey into the shafts of his little cart and went off as usual to the wood for his day's toil. Arrived there, he tied the donkey to a tree and then, by way of the cart, climbed the trunk in order to break off some dead branches which he had noticed above. As he sat there, legs astraddle on the branch, busily breaking away the dead wood, along through the forest came a lord dressed in fine clothes, with his manservant behind him.

"Hallo! my man," cried the lord, "if you don't come down from that tree pretty soon you ll get a tumble. The branch you are sitting on is cracked."

"Cracked, is it?" answered the peasant. "Well, so

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