1280

@ Fables on plants.

A JEST.

A priest, making the rounds of his parish on Easter Eve, and sprinkling holy water in the houses as is customary, came to a painter’s room, where he sprinkled the water on some of his pictures. The painter turned round, somewhat angered, and asked him why this sprinkling had been bestowed on his pictures; then said the priest, that it was the custom and his duty to do so, and that he was doing good; and that he who did good might look for good in return, and, indeed, for better, since God had promised that every good deed that was done on earth should be rewarded a hundred-fold from above. Then the painter, waiting till he went out, went to an upper window and flung a large pail of water on the priest’s back, saying: “Here is the reward a hundred-fold from above, which you said would come from the good you had done me with your holy water, by which you have damaged my pictures.”

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XX: Humorous Writings.
. . .
1260,
1261,
1262,
1263,
1264
Fables on animals.
1265,
1266,
1267,
1268,
1269,
1270
Fables on lifeless objects.
1271,
1272,
1273,
1274
@ Fables on plants.
1275,
1276,
1277,
1278,
1279,
1280,
1281,
1282,
1283,
1284,
1285,
1286,
1287,
1288,
1289,
1290,
1291,
1292,
1293,
1294,
1295,
1296,
1297,
1298,
1299,
1300
. . .