will soon be able to run alone, if it grazes at that rate!"

In the evening, when the herds had to be driven home, he said to the
calf, "If you can stand there eating like that, you can just walk off on
your own four legs; I am not going to lug you under my arm again!"

But the Little Farmer was standing by his house-door, and waiting for
his calf; and when he saw the cow-herd coming through the village
without it, he asked what it meant. The cow-herd answered, "It is still
out there eating away, and never attended to the call, and would not
come with the rest."

Then the Little Farmer said,

"I will tell you what, I must have my beast brought home."

And they went together through the fields in quest of it, but some one
had stolen it, and it was gone. And the drover said,

"Most likely it has run away."

But the Little Farmer said "Not it!" and brought the cow-herd before the
bailiff, who ordered him for his carelessness to give the Little Farmer
a cow for the missing calf.

So now the Little Farmer and his wife possessed their long-wished-for
cow; they rejoiced with all their hearts, but unfortunately they had no
fodder for it, and could give it nothing to eat, so that before long
they had to kill it. Its flesh they salted down, and the Little Farmer
went to the town to sell the skin and buy a new calf with what he got
for it. On the way he came to a mill, where a raven was sitting with
broken wings, and he took it up out of pity and wrapped it in the skin.
The weather was very stormy, and it blew and rained, so he turned into
the mill and asked for shelter. The miller's wife was alone in the
house, and she said to the Little Farmer,

"Well, come in and lay thee down in the straw," and she gave him a piece
of bread and cheese. So the Little Farmer ate, and then lay down with
his skin near him, and the miller's wife thought he was sleeping with
fatigue. After a while in came another man, and the miller's wife
received him very well, saying,

"My husband is out; we will make good cheer."

The Little Farmer listened to what they said, and when he heard good
cheer spoken of, he grew angry to think he had been put off with bread
and cheese. For the miller's wife presently brought out roast meat,
salad, cakes, and wine.

Now as the pair were sitting down to their feast, there came a knock at
the door.

"Oh dear," cried the woman, "it is my husband!" In a twinkling she
popped the roast meat into the oven, th