NINTH TALE OF THE MERRY MEN OF GOTHAM
There was a man of Gotham that rode upon the highway and there he found a cheese lying there (he probably followed behind the fellow in the THIRD TALE!) He pulled out his sword and bent down and pricked the cheese with the sword point hoping to scoop it up - but he couldn't get the sword in deeply enough to lift the cheese.
'Devil take it', said the horseman. 'If I had my longer sword, I could have lifted this cheese. I know: I'll ride back home and fetch my long sword.' He turned his horse round and galloped home.
Meanwhile a second horseman came riding by and spotted the cheese. He got off his horse, picked up the cheese and rode away.
The man of Gotham came galloping back with his long sword and came to the place where the cheese had been - and was amazed to find that the cheese was gone.'Curses!' he cried. 'If only I'd had my long sword with me, that cheese could have been mine!'