An Old Woman having lost the use of her eyes, called in a Physician to heal
them, and made this bargain with him in the presence of witnesses: that if
he should cure her blindness, he should receive from her a sum of money;
but if her infirmity remained, she should give him nothing. This agreement
being made, the Physician, time after time, applied his salve to her eyes,
and on every visit took something away, stealing all her property little by
little. And when he had got all she had, he healed her and demanded the
promised payment. The Old Woman, when she recovered her sight and saw
none of her goods in her house, would give him nothing. The Physician
insisted on his claim, and. as she still refused, summoned her before the
Judge. The Old Woman, standing up in the Court, argued: “This man here
speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to give him a sum of
money if I should recover my sight: but if I continued blind, I was to give
him nothing. Now he declares that I am healed. I on the contrary affirm that
I am still blind; for when I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house
various chattels and valuable goods: but now, though he swears I am cured
of my blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it.”
