Brewer's: Blindmen's Dinner

(The). A dinner unpaid for. A dinner in which the landlord is made the victim. Eulenspiegel being asked for alms by twelve blind men, said, “Go to the inn; eat, drink, and be merry, my men; and here are twenty florins to pay the fare.” The blind men thanked him; each supposing one of the others had received the money. Reaching the inn, they told the landlord of their luck, and were at once provided with food and drink to the amount of twenty florins. On asking for payment, they all said, “Let him who received the money pay for the dinner,” but none had received a penny.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content