THE TWELFTH TALE OF THE MERRY MEN OF GOTHAM
One bright summer’s day some men of Gotham were walking by the river-side and came to a pool where two rivers met and the contrary currents made the water white with foam as it churned as if it was a whirlpool. "See how the water boils !" said one. "If we had plenty of oatmeal," said another, "we could make enough porridge to feed all the village for a month."
They all agreed that this was an excellent idea and they hurried back to the village and gathered up every sack of oatmeal that they could find. The returned to the pool and poured the oatmeal into the churning water, then stood back to await their porridge.
After some time of staring into the white boiling water, they began to question how they would know when the porridge was ready. One fellow – who was very fond of porridge – suggested he should jump in and test it. All agreed and the man took off his shoes and jumped into the churning pool.
The water was far deeper than he expected and as he couldn’t swim, he began to drown. Under he went and three times he rose to the surface gasping and waving desperately to his companions.
The others assumed that the gasping was him smacking his lips as he ate the delicious porridge and he was waving his arms to beckon them into the pool. So they all took their shoes off and jumped into the water – and as none of them could swim, they all of them drowned.