one
of the Englishmen. "Won't there be a noise?"

"What! Give me what?" said the peasant. "Why, she will kiss me, and say,
'What the goodman does is always right.'"

"Let us lay a wager on it," said the Englishman. "We'll wager you a ton
of coined gold, a hundred pounds to the hundredweight."

"No, a bushel will be enough," replied the peasant. "I can only set a
bushel of apples against it, and I'll throw myself and my old woman into
the bargain. That will pile up the measure, I fancy."

"Done! taken!" and so the bet was made.

Then the landlord's coach came to the door, and the two Englishmen and
the peasant got in, and away they drove. Soon they had stopped at the
peasant's hut. "Good evening, old woman."

"Good evening, old man."

"I've made the exchange."

"Ah, well, you understand what you're about," said the woman. Then she
embraced him, and paid no attention to the strangers, nor did she notice
the sack.

"I got a cow in exchange for the horse."

"Oh, how delightful!" said she. "Now we shall have plenty of milk, and
butter, and cheese on the table. That was a capital exchange."

"Yes, but I changed the cow for a sheep."

"Ah, better still!" cried the wife. "You always think of everything; we
have just enough pasture for a sheep. Ewe's milk and cheese, woolen
jackets and stockings! The cow could not give all these, and her hairs
only fall off. How you think of everything!"

"But I changed away the sheep for a goose."

"Then we shall have roast goose to eat this year. You dear old man, you
are always thinking of something to please me. This is delightful. We
can let the goose walk about with a string tied to her leg, so that she
will get fatter still before we roast her."

"But I gave away the goose for a fowl."

"A fowl! Well, that was a good exchange," replied the woman. "The fowl
will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall have chickens. We shall soon
have a poultry yard. Oh, this is just what I was wishing for!"

"Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of shriveled apples."

"What! I must really give you a kiss for that!" exclaimed the wife. "My
dear, good husband, now I'll tell you something. Do you know, almost as
soon as you left me this morning, I began thinking of what I could give
you nice for supper this evening, and then I thought of fried eggs and
bacon, with sweet herbs. I had eggs and bacon but lacked the herbs, so I
went over to the schoolmaster's. I knew they had plenty of h