Once upon a time a man was going to a fair with a cow. He went to a friend's house the night before where there was a widow with three children. When it was time to go to bed the woman of the house told him to go to bed and she would call him in time for the fair and not to get up until she would call him.
In the morning he wakened early but he did not get up. He waited for a long time and she did not call him. Then he got up and found the children sitting round the fire and he asked, "Where is your mother?" "She is gone to the fair with your cow" they replied. The man went to the fair as quickly as he could.
The woman had the cow sold when he got there, and he could not get the money. He reported it to the guards. They could not get the money but by law.
The day before the court the woman went to get a lawyer to plead for her. The lawyer said he would if she gave him half the money. She promised she would. The lawyer told her to put her coat on her up-side down and to have a loaf under her arm and every time the judge asked her any question to eat a piece of the loaf and say, "Leave it so".
The next day at court the judge asked her why she stole the cow she took a piece of the loaf and said, "Leave it so". Every time she was asked a question she took a piece of the loaf and said, "Leave it so". At last the judge told the guards to take her out that the poor woman's husband was dead and that she was out of her mind ever since.
When she went out her lawyer who had pleaded for her case for her asked her for his money she took a piece of the loaf and said, "Leave it so."