In the olden times of serfdom, during the threshing season, the squire used to climb up on the struts under the roof of the threshing-barn to watch the threshers work at night. If any one of them happened to doze off during the work, he was summoned to the manor the next day and given a good beating.

Well, the threshers caught on at last that the squire was snooping around at night. They got together and worked out a plan of how to give the squire a good hiding because of his wickedness. During the day the men loosened the struts and then fastened them so lightly that they'd fall down under the weight of a body.

The evening came and the squire again climbed under the roof of the threshing-barn to watch the threshers. But as soon as he crawled on the strut, the poor man fell down headlong together with the strut and right in the middle of the threshers.

The men cried, "Thief! Thief! Let him have it!"

The threshers all seized their flails and beat the squire with all their might.

The squire cried, "Don't beat me, don't beat me! Don't you know your squire?"

The threshers shouted, "Listen to him, calling us mire! We'll see about that!"

The squire again cried, "Don't beat me, don't beat me! I'm your lord."

"Now the rascal says he's God! Work your flails, men!"

The threshers beat the squire until they got tired. The squire was hardly able to hobble back to the manor.

David Bocchi

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