"What work can ye do?" said the pastor.

"I can do all kinds of work," said Ian.

Then they agreed upon three pounds for the year's wages.

When the end of the year came the pastor showed him the three pounds.

"See, Ian," said he, "here's your wage; but if you will give it me back I'll give a piece of advice instead."

Give me my wage," said Ian.

"No, I'll not," said the pastor; "I'll explain my advice."

"Tell it me, then," said Ian.

Then said the pastor, "Never leave the old road for the sake of a new one.

After that they agreed for another year at the old wages, and at the end of it Ian took instead a piece of advice, and this was it:

"Never lodge where an old man is married to a young woman."

The same thing happened at the end of the third year, when the piece of advice was:

"Honesty is the best policy."

But Ian would not stay longer, for he wanted to go back to his wife.

"Don't go today," said the pastor; "my wife bakes tomorrow, and she shall make thee a cake to take home to thy good woman."

And when Ian was going to leave, "Here," said the pastor, "here is a cake for you to take home to your wife, and, when you are most joyous together, then break the cake, and not sooner."

So Ian took fair leave of them and traveled towards home, and at last he met a merchant from his own parish, coming home from Strath Amund Fair.

"Oho! Ian," said the merchant, "Come with us; glad are we to see you. Where have you been so long?"

"I have been in service," said Ian, "and now I'm going home to my wife."

"Oh, come with us! You'll be right welcome."

But when they took the new road Ian kept to the old one. And robbers fell upon them before they had gone far from Ian as they were going by the fields of the houses in the meadow. They began to cry out, "Thieves!"and Ian shouted out "Thieves!" too. And when the robbers heard Ian's shout they ran away, and the merchants went by the new road and Ian by the old one till they met again at Ranoch.

"Oh, Ian," said the merchants, "we are beholding to you; but for you we would have been lost men. Come lodge with us at our cost, and welcome."

When they came to the place where they used to lodge, Ian said, "I must see the host."

"The host," they cried; "what do you want with the host? Here is the hostess, and she's young and pretty. If you want to see the host you'll find him in the kitchen."

So he went into the kitchen to se the host; he found him a weak old man turning the spit.

"Oh! Oh!" quoth Ian, "I'll not lodge here, but will go next door."

Now it happened that the hostess had plotted with a certain monk to murder the old man in his bed that night while the rest were asleep, and they agreed to lay in on the lodgers. So while Ian was in bed next door, there was a hole in the pine-end of the house, and he saw a light through it. So he got up and looked, and heard the monk speaking.

"I had better cover this hole," said the monk, "or people in the next house may see our deeds."

So the monk stood with his back against the hole while the hostess killed the old man. Meanwhile Ian out with his knife, and putting it through the hole, cut a round piece off the monk's robe. The very next morning the hostess raised the cry that here husband was murdered, and as there was neither man nor child in the house but the merchant, she declared they ought to be hanged for it. So he was taken and carried to prison, till at last Ian came to them.

"Alas! Alas! Ian," he cried, "bad luck sticks to me; our host was killed last night, and I shall be hanged for it."

"Ah, tell the justices," said Ian, "to summon the real murderers. For, if I cannot prove who committed the crime, hang me in your stead."

So he told all he knew, and brought out the piece of cloth from the monk's robe, and with that the merchant was set at liberty, and the hostess and the monk were seized and hanged. Then their two roads separated, and though the merchant wished Ian to go with him, Ian went straight home to his wife.

And when his wife saw him she said: "Home in the nick off time. Here's a purse of gold that I've found; it has no name, but sure it belongs to the Earl of Athole.

Then Ian thought of the third counsel, and he said: "Let us go and give it to the Earl."

So they went up to the castle, but the great lord was not in, so they left the purse with the servant that minded the gate, and when they went home again and lived in quiet for a time. But one day the Earl stopped at their house for a drink of water, and Ian's wife said to him: "I hope your Grace has found your Grace's purse quite safe.... and all its money in it."

"What purse is that you are talking about?" said the Earl.

"Sure, it's your Grace's purse that I left at the castle," said Ian.

"Come with me and we will see into the matter," said the Earl.

So Ian and his wife went up to the castle, and there they pointed out the man to whom they had given the purse, and he had to give it up and was sent away from the castle. And the Earl was so pleased with Ian that he made him his servant in the stead of the thief.

"Honesty's the best policy!" quoth Ian, as he skipped about his new quarters. "How joyful I am!"

Then he thought of his old pastor's cake that he was to eat when he was most joyful, and when he broke it, lo and behold, inside it was his wages for the three years he had been with him.