The Half-Friend
A young man spends his money freely, feasting and treating his many friends to fine foods and luxurious gifts. His father cautions him, telling him that no true friend is won is such a way. The son objects, claiming that his many friends care for him as brothers; the father replies that he has only one friend, and in fact only half a friend at that, but he values that relationship over all the acquaintances his son claims are such intimate friendships. So the father and son agree to a test. The son kills a large pig, and puts the body in a sack. He then carries that sack to the house of one of his friends, and tells him that he has killed a man, and asks for his help. The so-called friend turns him away immediately, however, telling him that if he doesn't take the body away, he will strike him or call the authorities. The same thing occurs at the next friend's house, then the next. The son then goes to the house of his father's (half-)friend, and upon hearing who he is, and that he has killed a man, the friend immediately springs to action. He helps the son bury the 'body' in the garden, and plants a bed of leeks over the grave. Then, the son returns to his father's house. The father suggests further tests, telling the boy to provoke the friend further, first by demanding repayment for a non-existent debt, then at last striking the friend across the face. Despite all this, however, the friend tells the son that even in the face of such disrespect, he will not dig up the bed of leeks and expose the boy's crimes, due to his love for the boy's father. The boy tells his father that such friendship is truly valuable, while his 'friends' were not worth a fig, and the two explain the whole affair to the friend.
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| Dimidius amicus appears in the following versions and secondary versions
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