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A Man was engaged in digging over his vineyard, and one day on

coming to work he missed his Spade. Thinking it may have been

stolen by one of his labourers, he questioned them closely, but

they one and all denied any knowledge of it. He was not convinced

by their denials, and insisted that they should all go to the

town and take oath in a temple that they were not guilty of the

theft. This was because he had no great opinion of the simple

country deities, but thought that the thief would not pass

undetected by the shrewder gods of the town. When they got inside

the gates the first thing they heard was the town crier

proclaiming a reward for information about a thief who had stolen

something from the city temple. "Well," said the Man to himself,

"it strikes me I had better go back home again. If these town

gods can't detect the thieves who steal from their own temples,

it's scarcely likely they can tell me who stole my Spade."

THE PARTRIDGE AND THE FOWLER