Besides drawing on manuscripts and designing machines, Leonardo da Vinci also left behind some "fables."
On the Saturday before Easter, a priest went around his parish, sprinkling holy water on every household according to tradition. He came to a painter's studio and began sprinkling holy water over some of the painter's works. The painter turned around and angrily demanded to know why he was doing that to his paintings. The priest replied that it was a customary practice, that he was obliged to do it, and that he was doing a good deed. Those who did good deeds might receive an equal or even greater reward, for God had once promised that for every good deed we performed on earth, Heaven would repay us a hundredfold.
After the priest left the studio, the painter climbed onto the studio window and dumped a large bucket of water over him. He shouted, "Just as you said, behold the hundredfold reward Heaven has sent you. Thank you for treating me with holy water and making a complete mess of my paintings."
There was another story. The mendicant friars of the Franciscan Order observed a fasting period during certain seasons, during which they could not eat meat in the monastery. However, if they were traveling, such as when they went out to beg for alms, they could eat whatever food was placed before them. Two friars out begging for alms came to an inn, where a merchant arrived at the same time. By chance, all three sat at the same table. The inn was so poor that it had only one roasted cockerel to offer them. The merchant believed he had every right to have the dish to himself. Turning to the two friars, he said, "If I remember correctly, you are not permitted