When Thomas’ wife enters the house, the friar kisses and fondles her. She requests that he preach to Thomas about anger because Thomas is so unpleasant. Before leaving, the wife reminds the Friar that her baby died recently. The friar pretends to know this because he and the other friars have seen the child being carried upward, and they have prayed and fasted. He gives the wife a long sermon on the virtues of fasting and sins of gluttony.
The friar then turns to Thomas and embarks upon a long sermon on the necessity of avoiding excessive wealth. He assures Thomas that the convent prays for him every night and that Thomas should donate a portion of his gold to the convent. In fact, he says that Thomas should give everything to the friars. The friar then preaches on the sin of anger and quotes many classical examples. In so doing, he makes Thomas more and more angry until Thomas finally says that he has a gift for the friar, on the condition that the friar swears to share the gift with the other friars. When the friar agrees, Thomas tells him to “reach down your hand beneath my buttocks, and there you are sure to find something I have hidden there.” The friar quickly runs his hand down the cleft of the old man’s buttocks, and at that moment the old man lets out an enormous fart.
Enraged and disgusted, the friar leaves Thomas and goes to see a wealthy lord, whom he tells of this insult, saying, “I wont be asked to divide what cannot be divided into equal parts.” The lord’s servant explains how the fart can be equally divided. The lord and his lady — everyone except the friar — thinks the servant’s answer is excellent.
