The Woman and the Drunkard

A woman had a drunkard for a husband. To cure him of his vice, she devised the following trick. She watched for the moment when her husband, dulled by drink, was as insensible as a corpse, loaded him onto her shoulders, carried him to the cemetery, set him down, and withdrew. When she judged that he had slept off his wine, she came back and knocked at the cemetery gate. "Who is knocking at the gate?" said the drunkard. "It is I, come to bring food to the dead," replied the woman. And he, "Don't bring me food, my good fellow; bring me drink instead." The woman, beating her breast, cried out, "Alas, how wretched I am! My very trick has had no effect on you; for not only are you no wiser, but you have grown worse, and your failing has become a second nature."