uld be a good exchange if I could get that for my
goose.

"Shall we exchange?" he asked the toll-taker.

"Exchange!" repeated the man; "well, that would not be a bad thing."

And so they exchanged; the toll-taker at the barrier kept the goose,
and the peasant carried away the fowl.

Now, he had done a good deal of business on his way to the fair, and
he was hot and tired. He wanted something to eat, and a glass of
brandy to drink; and soon he was in front of the inn. He was just
about to step in, when the hostler came out, so they met at the door.
The hostler was carrying a sack.

"What have you in that sack?" asked the peasant.

"Rotten apples," answered the hostler; "a whole sackful of
them--enough to feed the pigs with."

[Illustration: THE OLD MAN RELATES HIS SUCCESS.]

"Why, that's terrible waste! I should like to take them to my old
woman at home. Last year the old tree by the turf-hole only bore a
single apple, and we kept it on the cupboard till it was quite rotten
and spoilt. 'It was always property,' my old woman said; but here she
could see a quantity of property--a whole sackful. Yes, I shall be
glad to show them to her."

"What will you give me for the sackful?" asked the hostler.

"What will I give? I will give my fowl in exchange."

And he gave the fowl accordingly, and received the apples, which he
carried into the guest-room. He leaned the sack carefully by the
stove, and then went to the table. But the stove was hot: he had not
thought of that. Many guests were present--horse dealers, ox-herds,
and two Englishmen--and the two Englishmen were so rich that their
pockets bulged out with gold coins, and almost burst; and they could
bet too, as you shall hear.

Hiss-s-s! hiss-s-s! What was that by the stove? The apples were
beginning to roast!

"What is that?"

"Why, do you know--," said our peasant.

And he told the whole story of the horse that he had changed for a
cow, and all the rest of it, down to the apples.

"Well, your old woman will give it you well when you get home!" said
one of the two Englishmen. "There will be a disturbance."

"What?--give me what?" said the peasant. "She will kiss me, and say,
'What the old man does is always right.'"

"Shall we wager?" said the Englishman. "We'll wager coined gold by the
ton--a hundred pounds to the hundredweight!"

"A bushel will be enough," replied the peasant. "I can only set the
bushel of apples against it; and I'll throw myself