"Poured wine down the well!" cried Peter, starting in astonishment; "then, for heaven's sake, why did you do that?"
"Because," sobbed his wife, "the water tasted of cabbages!"
"Of cabbages!" repeated the peasant, in greater surprise than ever, "and what made it taste of cabbages?"
"Because I dipped up water in the cabbage pot," cried Silly Catharine.
"And where was the bucket?" asked her husband.
"I burnt it, trying to dip the water out of the chimney, that had been drawn up from the cabbage pot!" gasped Catharine, feeling that everything must now be told, since she had begun.
Wise Peter took two or three strides across the room in silence; then, making a violent effort to speak quietly, he said, "And why, Catharine, since you supposed that water could be drawn up a chimney, did you leave the pot unwatched?"
Almost in a scream, Silly Catharine broke out, "Because I was sewing on the turkeys' heads that I struck off cutting down the bramble bush!!"
"Now, was ever any man tormented with such a fool of a wife!" shouted Peter, almost beside himself with rage. "I could beat you with pleasure for acting so witlessly, but that, alas! would not pay for what you have lost for me this day. A hundred and five guilders of my precious money have I been made to pay for your foolery, besides losing my Tokay wine, my field of wheat, and all my fine young turkeys! at least a hundred guilders more!"
"Oh, and that's not the worst!" cried Catharine.
"What! is there any more to come?" exclaimed Peter, almost out of his senses.
"Yes," stammered Silly Catharine; "the man came here to gather the tax, and I told him, as you said, that you were far too clever to pay it, and that he would get nothing more out of me. Then he said you were a beggarly fellow, not worth five kreutzers, and, of course, I couldn't allow that; so I showed him the guilders in the store room, to prove that he spoke falsely, and he took every one of them! I am so sorry, but never mind, there is excellent cabbage soup for supper!"
At this, Peter could restrain himself no longer, and falling upon Silly Catharine, he trounced her well with his stick, until she cried out for mercy. "There!" he said at last, throwing down the stick, "you have been well punished, though not half enough to pay for the mischief you have done."