Instantly poor Mrs. Goldsmith tumbled over ; and the stranger , horrified at seeing what he had done , was immediately seized by the goldsmith , who ran out screaming : ` Wretch ! you have killed my wife ! Oh , miserable one ; we will have justice done to thee ! ' With many protestations and reproaches they wrangled together , the stranger entreating the goldsmith to say nothing and he would pay him handsomely to atone for the sad accident . At last the goldsmith quieted down , and agreed to accept one thousand gold pieces from the stranger , who immediately helped him to bury his poor wife , and then rushed off to the guest house , packed up his things and was off by daylight , lest the goldsmith should repent and accuse him as the murderer of his wife . Now it very soon appeared that the goldsmith had a lot of extra money , so that people began to ask questions , and finally demanded of him the reason for his sudden wealth . ` Oh , ' said he , ` my wife died , and I sold her . ' ` You sold your dead wife ? ' cried the people . ` Yes , ' said the goldsmith . ` For how much ? ' ' A thousand gold pieces , ' replied the goldsmith . Instantly the villagers went away and each caught hold of his own wife and throttled her , and the next day they all went off to sell their dead wives . Many a weary mile did they tramp , but got nothing but hard words or laughter , or directions to the nearest cemetery , from people to whom they offered dead wives for sale . At last they perceived that they had been cheated somehow by that goldsmith . So off they rushed home , seized the unhappy man , and , without listening to his cries and entreaties , hurried him down to the river bank and flung him -- plop ! -- into the deepest , weediest , and nastiest place they could find . ` That will teach him to play tricks on us , ' said they . ` For as he ca n't swim he 'll drown , and we sha 'n' t have any more trouble with him ! ' Now the goldsmith really could not swim , and as soon as he was thrown into the deep river he sank below the surface ; so his enemies went away believing that they had seen the last of him .
But , in reality , he was carried down , half drowned , XXXXX the next bend in the river , where he fortunately came across a ` snag ' floating in the water -LRB- a snag is , you know , a part of a tree or bush which floats very nearly under the surface of the water -RRB- ; and he held on to this snag , and by great good luck eventually came ashore some two or three miles down the river .
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