.
All you have to do is to draw it with the arrow on the string, and
whatever you aim at will fall, pierced by the arrow.'

Jack was delighted, and, in order to test it, he fixed an arrow and let
it fly at a hawk passing overhead. The arrow sped and pierced the body
of the hawk, which came down plump at their feet.

At this Jack considered his second wish, for he said to himself, 'An old
man who can give me a bow and arrow that can never miss, can give me
almost anything.' Then he made up his mind and asked for a pipe on which
to play tunes.

'I have always wanted a pipe,' he said; 'I would like one so much, no
matter how small it is.'

Then the old man got up and went behind the bank, and came back
presently with a beautiful pipe, which he gave to the boy.

'It is a strange pipe,' he said. 'When you play upon it any one besides
yourself who hears the music must dance, and keep on dancing till the
music stops.'

Jack thought this was fine, and would have played a tune there and then,
but he looked at the aged man and saw that it would hurt him to dance;
so he waited: there was always the 'good Friar' to pipe to.

'Now, child,' said the old man at last, 'what is your third and last
wish?'

Jack pondered a long time, and at last he chuckled and clapped his hands
with glee. When the old man asked him what tickled him so, he could not
reply at once, as he was so busy enjoying some joke beforehand. At last,
when he was able to speak, he said, 'Father, it has just crossed my mind
that my stepmother is always looking at me sourly and always scolding
me. I wish that when she does this she will laugh, and go on laughing
till I give her the word to stop. Can you grant that wish, father?'

'I can,' said the old man; 'and it will be so. When she looks at you
sourly or speaks to you crossly, she will laugh until she falls to the
ground, and then go on laughing until you tell her to stop.'

When Jack had thanked him, the old man said good-bye and tottered away,
leaning heavily on his staff. Meanwhile Jack sat and nursed his three
wishes, feeling as gay-hearted about his good luck as a lambkin with
three tails.

When the sun set at last and his day's work was done, he rose and
trudged homewards in great glee. As he went he played his pipe, and all
the sheep and cattle and horses and dogs danced, till he left off for
laughing at the sight of them kicking up their heels. Even the birds and
the bees waltzed in the air, and,