Then his wife told the sailor how
unfortunate they had been and how poor they were, and that they would
soon have to be sold up and perhaps finish their life in a workhouse. He
took a piece of gold out of his belt and told her there was enough in it
to pay all their debts, and after that there would be some left for
himself. The sight of the gold and jewels excited the woman's cupidity,
and when the sailor was fast asleep she woke her husband, told him what
had happened, and suggested that they should murder the sailor and bury
his body next day in the garden. The farmer was very unwilling, but his
wife at length persuaded him to go with her. Finding the sailor still
fast asleep, they cut his throat and killed him, and covered him up with
the bedclothes till they should have an opportunity of burying him. In
the morning their daughter came and asked where the sailor was who
called on them the previous night, but they said no sailor had been
there. "But," she said, "he must be here, for he is my brother, and your
long-lost son; I saw the scar on his arm." The mother turning deadly
pale sank in a chair, while with an oath the father ran upstairs, saw
the scar, and then killed himself with the knife with which he had
killed his son.
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