cow looked at him, and
then suddenly giving her a violent kick in the side, he said: "Get up!"

The animal got up slowly, letting her heavy udders hang down below her;
then the man lay down on his back between the animal's legs, and he
drank for a long time, squeezing her warm swollen teats which tasted of
the cow stall, with both hands, and he drank as long as any milk
remained in that living well. But the icy rain began to fall more
heavily, and he saw no place of shelter on the whole of that bare plain.
He was cold, and he looked set a light which was shining among the
trees, in the window of a house.

The cow had lain down again, heavily, and he sat down by her side and
stroked her head, grateful for the nourishment she had given him. The
animal's strong, thick breath, which came out of her nostrils like two
jets of steam in the evening air, blew onto the workman's face, who
said: "You are not cold, inside there!" He put his hands onto her chest
and under her legs to find some warmth there, and then the idea struck
him, that he might pass the night against that large, warm stomach. So
he found a comfortable place and laid his forehead against the great
udder which had quenched his thirst just previously, and then, as he was
worn-out with fatigue, he fell asleep immediately.

He woke up, however, several times, with his back or his stomach half
frozen, according as he put one or the other to the animal's flank. Then
he turned over to warm and dry that part of his body which had remained
exposed to the night air, and he soon went soundly to sleep again.

The crowing of a cock woke him; the day was breaking, it was no longer
raining and the sky was bright. The cow was resting, with her muzzle on
the ground, and he stooped down, resting on his hands, to kiss those
wide nostrils of moist flesh, and said: "Good-bye, my beauty ... until
next time ... you are a nice animal ... Good-bye ..." Then he put on his
shoes and went off, and for two hours he walked straight on before him,
always following the same road, and then he felt so tired that he sat
down on the grass. It was broad daylight by that time, and the church
bells were ringing; men in blue blouses, women in white caps, some on
foot, some in carts, began to pass along the road, going to the
neighboring villages to spend Sunday with friends or relations.

A stout peasant came in sight, drawing a score of frightened, bleating
sheep in front of him, whom an active