A priest now enters, and to him the townsman explains the dispute.

"Dear peasant," says the priest, "wherefore camest thou hither, that thou shouldst make of a due[10] usury?
May not a man buy with his money what he will ?" But the peasant stands by his previous assertion, demanding how anything can be considered as bought which is only a pledge.

"We priests," replies the ecclesiastic, "must perforce lend moneys for dues, since thereby we get our living"; to which, after sundry ejaculations of surprise, the peasant retorts: "Who gave to you the power?
I well hear ye have another God than we poor people.

We have our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath forbidden such money-lending for gain." Hence it comes, he goes on, that land is no longer free; to attempt to whitewash usury under the name of due or interest, he says, is just the same as if one were to call a child christened Friedrich or Hansel, Fritz or Hans, and then maintain it was no longer the same child.

They require no more Jews, he says, since the Christians have taken their business in hand.