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Two Young Men and A Cook

L'Estrange version

Two young fellows slipt into a cooks shop, and while the master was busie at his work, one of them stole a piece of flesh, and convey'd it to the other. The master missed it immediately, and challeng'd them with the theft. He that took it, swore he had none on't. And he that had it, swore as desperately that he did not take it. The cook reflecting upon the conceit: Well, my masters, (says he) these frauds and fallacies may pass upon men; but there's an eye above that sees thorough them.

Moral

There's no putting of tricks upon an all-seeing power; as if he that made our hearts and knows every nook, and corner of them, could not see thorough the childish fallacy of a double-meaning.

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