The Merry Wives From the Danish There lay three houses in a row , in one of which there lived a tailor , in another a carpenter , and in the third a smith . All three were married , and their wives were very good friends . They often talked about how stupid their husbands were , but they could never agree as to which of them had the most stupid one ; each one stuck up for her own husband , and maintained that it was he . The three wives went to church together every Sunday , and had a regular good gossip on the way , and when they were coming home from church they always turned into the tavern which lay by the wayside and drank half a pint together . This was at the time when half a pint of brandy cost threepence , so that was just a penny from each of them . But the brandy went up in price , and the taverner said that he must have fourpence for the half-pint . They were greatly annoyed at this , for there were only the three of them to share it , and none of them was willing to pay the extra penny . As they went home from the church that day they decided to wager with each other as to whose husband was the most stupid , and the one who , on the following Sunday , should be judged to have played her husband the greatest trick should thereafter go free from paying , and each of the two others would give twopence for their Sunday 's half-pint . Next day the tailor 's wife said to her husband , ' I have some girls coming to-day to help to card my wool there is a great deal to do , and we must be very busy . I am so annoyed that our watchdog is dead , for in the evening the young fellows will come about to get fun with the girls , and they will get nothing done . If we had only had a fierce watchdog he would have kept them away . ' ` Yes , ' said the man , ` that would have been a good thing . ' ` Listen , good man , ' said the wife , ` you must just be the watchdog yourself , and scare the fellows away from the house . ' The husband was not very sure about this , although otherwise he was always ready to give in to her . ` Oh yes , you will see it will work all right , ' said the wife . And so towards evening she got the tailor dressed up in a shaggy fur coat , tied a black woollen cloth round his head , and chained him up beside the dog 's kennel . ' There he stood and barked and growled at everyone that moved in his neighbourhood . The neighbour wives knew all about this , and were greatly amused at it . On the day after this the carpenter had been out at work , and came home quite merry ; but as soon as he entered the house his wife clapped her hands together and cried , ` My dear , what makes you look like that ? You are ill . '
The carpenter knew nothing XXXXX being ill ; he only thought that he wanted something to eat , so he sat down at the table and began his dinner .
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