` Do you think you may joke with me , pray ? ' ` Indeed , I 'm not joking , Mr. Secretary ! I 'm speaking the bare truth . ' ` Now you see , gentlemen , ' said her husband , ` how far you can trust her , when she chatters like this . ' ` Chatter , indeed ? I !! Perhaps you have forgotten , too , how we found a live hare in the river ? ' Everyone roared with laughter ; even the secretary smiled and stroked his beard , and the man said : ` Come , come , wife , everyone is laughing at you . You see for yourself , gentlemen , how far you can believe her . ' ` Yes , indeed , ' said the village elders , ` it is certainly the first time we have heard that hares thrive in the water or fish among the tree tops . ' The secretary could make nothing of it all , and drove back to the town . The old woman was so laughed at that she had to hold her tongue and obey her husband ever after , and the man bought wares with part of the treasure and moved into the town , where he opened a shop , and prospered , and spent the rest of his days in peace . TWO IN A SACK What a life that poor man led with his wife , to be sure ! Not a day passed without her scolding him and calling him names , and indeed sometimes she would take the broom from behind the stove and beat him with it . He had no peace or comfort at all , and really hardly knew how to bear it . One day , when his wife had been particularly unkind and had beaten him black and blue , he strolled slowly into the fields , and as he could not endure to be idle he spread out his nets . What kind of bird do you think he caught in his net ? He caught a crane , and the crane said , ` Let me go free , and I 'll show myself grateful . ' The man answered , ` No , my dear fellow . I shall take you home , and then perhaps my wife wo n't scold me so much . '
Said the crane : ` You had better come with me to my house , ' and so they went XXXXX the crane 's house .
IN as at for into like of to with without