aying:

"A pretty baby you, who cannot untie a horse."

Tim, however, pretending that he could not hold the horse, moved away,
and led him very far from the road. Then leaving him to seek his brother
who was in vain pursuit of the horse he ran to where the swine lay, and,
seizing hold of her, placed her upon his horse and carried her off. As
soon as he got home he tied her by the leg to the hand-mill which stood
in the middle of the kitchen, round which he strewed a quantity of rye.
Forthwith the swine fell to eating the rye, and, by moving round, set the
mill a grinding. Tim then flung himself upon his bed, and without any
care resigned himself to sleep.

In the meanwhile the thieves met each other.

One said, "Where's the horse?"

The other answered, that he had never caught a glimpse of it.

"Then why did you call me to help you to untie it?" said the first.

"You are mad!" replied the other; "I never spoke a word."

"Well, then," said his comrade, "it is plain that fellow Tim has played
us a trick. Let us go and see whether the swine is where we left her."

But, after seeking her for a long time in vain, they concluded that their
brother-in-law had carried her back with him home, whereupon they set off
for Tim's house with all speed.

On arriving at the court-yard, they went to the kitchen, and one of them
said:

"Brother, I am afraid we have lost our two hundred roubles. The old
beldame, Tim's mother, is awake and up. Don't you hear her getting the
mill in order? She is going to grind. However, I will go to my sister,
and ask her, as I did before, where the swine is hid; perhaps it is not
in the kitchen."

So he climbed up upon the roof as he had done before, and waking his
sister said:

"Wife, where is the swine?"

"You must be asleep," she replied; "have you forgotten that she is tied
to the hand-mill in the kitchen?"

The thief, having learnt where the swine was, ran to the kitchen, and
seizing his booty hastened away with his brother, saying:

"Master Tim has taught us a lesson; he will not deceive us again."

Shortly after this Tim awoke, and jumping up, ran to look after the
swine. But on entering the kitchen, he perceived that she had been
stolen a second time. Nothing now remained for him to do but to run and
overtake the thieves, and discover some means of deceiving them again.
He ran without any burden on his back, and besides, was all the fresher
for having rested, conseque