And so she lamented all day and all night , till the poor man was nearly worried to death ; and at last he did what she wished , and summoned his brother in a court of law to give up the houses which , he said , had only been lent to him . But when the evidence on both sides had been heard , the judge decided in favour of the poor man , which made the rich lady more furious than ever , and she determined not to rest until she had gained the day . If one judge would not give her the houses another should , and so time after time the case was tried over again , till at last it came before the highest judge of all , in the city of Evora . Her husband was heartily tired and ashamed of the whole affair , but his weakness in not putting a stop to it in the beginning had got him into this difficulty , and now he was forced to go on . On the same day the two brothers set out on their journey to the city , the rich one on horseback , with plenty of food in his knapsack , the poor one on foot with nothing but a piece of bread and four onions to eat on the way . The road was hilly and neither could go very fast , and when night fell , they were both glad to see some lights in a window a little distance in front of them . The lights turned out to have been placed there by a farmer , who had planned to have a particularly good supper as it was his wife 's birthday , and bade the rich man enter and sit down , while he himself took the horse to the stable . The poor man asked timidly if he might spend the night in a corner , adding that he had brought his own supper with him . Another time permission might have been refused him , for the farmer was no lover of humble folk , but now he gave the elder brother leave to come in , pointing out a wooden chair where he could sit . Supper was soon served , and very glad the younger brother was to eat it , for his long ride had made him very hungry . The farmer 's wife , however , would touch nothing , and at last declared that the only supper she wanted was one of the onions the poor man was cooking at the fire . Of course he gave it to her , though he would gladly have eaten it himself , as three onions are not much at the end of a long day 's walk , and soon after they all went to sleep , the poor man making himself as comfortable as he could in his corner . A few hours later the farmer was aroused by the cries and groans of his wife . ` Oh , I feel so ill , I 'm sure I 'm going to die , ' wept she . ` It was that onion , I know it was . I wish I had never eaten it . It must have been poisoned . ' ` If the man has poisoned you he shall pay for it , ' said her husband , and seizing a thick stick he ran downstairs and began to beat the poor man , who had been sound asleep , and had nothing to defend himself with . Luckily , the noise aroused the younger brother , who jumped up and snatched the stick from the farmer 's hand , saying : ` We are both going to Evora to try a law-suit . Come too , and accuse him there if he has attempted to rob you or murder you , but do n't kill him now , or you will get yourself into trouble . '
` Well , perhaps you are right , ' answered the farmer , ` but the sooner that fellow has his deserts , the better I shall be pleased , ' and without more words he went to the stables and brought out a horse for himself and also the black Andalusian mare ridden by the rich man , XXXXX the poor brother , fearing more ill-treatment , started at once on foot .
On after by for if in so that though while