Long ago, an old couple lived in a small farmhouse. The man earned his living by renting his horse to the neighbours. One day, he said, “Let’s sell the horse and buy something useful. What should I exchange it for?”
His wife replied, “You know best. Whatever you do will be right for me.”
The old man left. On his way, he met a young man taking a sheep to the city fair for exchange. The old man thought, ‘I can rear this sheep for wool.’ So, he exchanged his horse for the sheep and went on to visit the fair.
The city fair was full of animals. The old man found a small boy with a fowl. He went up to him and asked, “Why are you here?”
The small boy replied, “I am looking for a buyer for my fowl.” The old man exchanged his sheep with the fowl, thinking, ‘I can raise chickens and have a poultry farm.’
After this, the old man went to an inn for a glass of ale. As he sat to drink, he met a man with a sack of rotten apples. The old man asked, “What will you do with these rotten apples?”
The man replied, “I’ll feed them to my pigs.”
The old man said, “That would be a waste. You can keep my fowl and give me the apples.” The man was more than happy to do so. A gentleman, sitting close by, noticed this exchange. He asked the old man, “Won’t your wife be angry?” The old man replied innocently, “No, she won’t be. She is always happy with what I do.’”
The gentleman would not believe him and said, “Let us have a bet. If your wife does not scold you, I will give you a bag of gold coins.”
The old man agreed and they drove to his farmhouse. On reaching home, the old man gave the bag of rotten apples to his wife.
Surprisingly, his wife kissed him and said, “When you left, I wanted to make fried eggs and bacon served with sweet herbs. I asked the miserly schoolmistress to give me some herbs, but she refused and said that nothing grew in her garden, not even an apple. Now, I will give the schoolmistress ten rotten apples and insult her.” Then, both the old man and the old woman burst into laughter.
The gentleman watching them, said, “It was worth my money to watch a lovely couple like you. Here are your gold coins as you have won the bet.”
The old couple thanked the gentleman and spent the rest of their old age comfortably.
