With his wits thus woolgathering as he walked, he one day suddenly tumbled into a pit.

His father, who chanced to be with him, rushed off to get a rope, wherewith to drag out "his household wisdom." Meanwhile, his thoughtful child, as he sat in the pit, reasoned with himself as to what might be the cause of his fall, and came to the conclusion that it was an earthquake; also, that his sudden flight into the pit might create an atmospheric pressure, from the earth and the pit, which would wipe out the seven planets.

The father rushed up with a rope.

"Here's a rope for you," says he, "catch hold of it.

I'll drag you out; look out that you don't fall off!" "No, wait; don't pull me out yet; tell me first, what sort of a thing is a rope ?" "Although the father was not learned, he was gifted by nature with common sense," winds up the fable.
Another, called "The Skinflint," runs thus: "There was once a Skinflint, who had a vast amount of money.
And, as he was wont to say, he had grown rich, Not by crooked deeds.