Greater Fools Found
By the side of the forest lived a clever young man and his innocent wife. One evening while the young man was out for gathering wood, a fellow came shivering for cold and sat down near the fire which the lady was raking. "Where from do you come?" asked the innocent young lady. "From heaven!" replied the fellow who was a cheat. "I had never met a traveler from heaven earlier. Well, my father died a few months ago. I wonder if he is somewhere in heaven," mused the lady. "He is. In fact, we share the same room," said the cheat. "How wonderful! How is he?" "He is fine, but it is awfully cold up there in heaven. He yearns for a coat," replied the cheat. "My heart breaks at the thought of my poor father shivering for cold. Will you mind taking my husband's coat and giving it to him?" asked the lady imploringly. "I don't mind!" replied the cheat. The lady handed over her husband's coat to the fellow and he left with a chuckle. A little later arrived the husband. "I know you'd be the last person to feel the loss of your coat when you know that your poor father-in-law is enjoying its comfort in heaven," said the young lady. When the young man heard what had happened to his coat, he sighed and said, "My dear wife, you are such a fool that I find it extremely difficult to live with you?"
"You are not thinking of deserting me, are you?" asked the wife, in tears. "I am not thinking, but I am deserting you. I shall be back only if I meet a greater fool!" said the young man and he went out in a huff. It was a moonlit night. He walked the whole night and was at the other end of the forest by morning. Before long his eyes fell on the cheat wearing his coat, entering a house. He waited behind a tree. When he saw the cheat going out, without the coat, he went closer to the house. A pig was roaming about in front of the house. He bowed to the pig in full view of the lady of the house. "What are you doing, stranger?" asked the lady, quite amused. "This one resembles my wife's long lost brother. Who knows if he has not changed into this pig? Do I have your permission to lead him to my home for an hour or so for my wife to talk to him?" said the young man, feigning complete innocence. The lady paused and laughed. "Who can dream of a fool like this one!" she thought and then asked, "How far is your home?" "If I scream, my wife would scream back," replied the young man. The lady thought, "That means the fellow lives close by. Let him take the pig. There will be such excitement when his wife would see her 'brother'. I shall follow him and enjoy the fun." To the young man, she said, "Your brother-in-law should not visit your house without any cloth."
She then brought out the very coat her husband had left a moment ago and threw it on the pig. "If you so desire, you can carry your dear brother-in-law in our horse carriage," said the lady. "My wife will feel so flattered!" said the young man. The pig was made to ride the carriage. The young man drove it away. The lady was still in a laughing fit when her husband, the cheat, came back. He stood speechless with anger upon hearing what his wife had done. "You are the greatest fool I have even known," he cried out and then began running after the young man. "I shall be back only if I find a greater fool than yourself," he shouted at his wife. The young man had expected this. He led the carriage into the forest, off the road, and fastened it to a tree and sat by the roadside with his hat resting on the ground. A little later the cheat arrived there, gasping for breath. "Fellow, have you seen a young man driving a carriage?" asked the cheat. "With a pig wearing a coat in it?" "Right. How far do you think he has gone?" "He was going pretty fast.
It should take me half an hour to catch him, a champion runner though I am if I pursue him!" "He has stolen away my carriage and my pig and er-er-- even my coat! If you could catch him, either the pig or the coat will be yours!" "But how can I leave the hat here?" "Take it with you, by all means!" "How can I? Does it not belong to my master? And has he not ordered me to guard it here because a golden bird is trapped in it? Has he not said that I should not leave the spot even if someone offered me ten coins?" "If I offer twenty coins and also guard the bird?" asked the cheat and he handed out twenty coins to the young man. "Then I run," said the young man and he ran away. Needless to say, he went into the forest and drove the horse carriage home, along with the pig and coat. "I am back because I found a greater fool than yourself in the wife of the fellow who had swindled you of my coat," he announced. The cheat kept guard on the hat for a long time. He expected either the young man or his master to come there. But when nobody turned up, he slowly lifted the hat. He found no bird under it! The hat itself was a rotten one, worth nothing. He knocked at the door of his house late in the afternoon. "I am back because I found a greater fool than yourself. That is myself," he said when his wife opened the door.
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