! isdom’s Wages and Follys Pay ONCE upon a time there was a wise man of wise men, and a great magician to boot, and his name was Doctor Simon Agri- cola. Once upon a time there was a simpleton of simpletons, and a great booby to boot, and his name was Babo. Simon Agricola had read all the books written by man, and could do more magic than any conjurer that ever lived. But, nevertheless, he was none too_ well off in the world ; his clothes were patched, and his shoes gaped, and that is the way with many another wise man of whom I have heard tell. Babo gathered rushes for a chair-maker, and he also had too few of the good things to make life easy. But it is nothing out of the way for a simpleton to be in that case. The two of them lived neighbour to neighbour, the one : 265