There was once, long, long ago, a lady who was most unlady-like in being dishonest and deceitful; and this dame dwelt in the old tower in La Via di Santo Spirito in Florence.

Now, she dreamed one night that she saw an egg, and this made such a strange impression on her that the next day she went to a witch and asked her what it meant.

To which the sorceress replied:
"The egg means a great treasure which you may find, but only by my aid; and if you do so, you must give me one half of it. I will make a spell by means of which you will again dream to-night of the place or house wherein it is, and on the third night the exact spot where it hides will be revealed.

So the lady promised that, in case of success, she would truly divide the treasure with the witch.

And on the second night she indeed dreamed that treasure was somewhere in the place where she dwelt, which was called the Torre del Uovo, or Egg Tower; and on the third night that it was under a certain slab in a cellar, where she truly found it. It consisted of ten thousand crowns in gold and five hundred in silver, so that, by weight alone, one half of it was gold and the other silver.

Then the lady said to herself, "I will indeed give the witch the silver half, and keep the other for myself."

So she took the silver to the witch, who, after looking at it, said with a stern air:
“O che siei senza vergogna! - Oh, how shameless art thou and dishonest to try to cheat me thus !
"Thou didst dream of an egg, which means a treasure in equal parts of gold and silver. The yellow of an egg means gold, and the white, silver. And I meant half the value, and not one half of the weight. Thou art like the talking hen of Montecuccoli, who ate the egg before she had laid it :
""Come la gallina di Montecuccoli,
Mangiava l'uovo prima di farlo."
"If thou dost not give me half of the gold before three days are past thou shalt die, and I will take the whole."

The lady returned to her home, and at once found herself very ill. She grew worse and worse. When she believed that she was dying, she sent for the witch and gave her half the gold, and then the sorceress cured her. E così la Signora guariva.

Of all which it may be said :
He who the devil would deceive
Must rise full early, we may believe;
And he who would cheat a master-cheat
Will in the end be surely beat.

Which is all true, as sure as eggs are eggs, and not chickens.