up!" to the horses; and she knew
very well if she could only look into a glass she should see, not Pet
any more, but the sunburnt man toiling after his plough. She was quite
bewildered by the change at first, but presently she began to interest
herself greatly in all the new thoughts that poured into her mind. After
a time she quite lost sight of her old self, and felt _that she was the
man_. She put her horny hand in her pocket, and found that the clock and
key were there safely, and this consoled her with the thought that she
was not hopelessly buried in the ploughman. When the sun went down she
stopped ploughing and went home to a little cottage which was hidden
among some bushes in a field.

Half a dozen little hungry children, with poor, scanty clothing came
running to meet her.

"Oh, father!" they cried, "mother has been so ill to-day, and neighbor
Nancy says she will never get well without some wine to make her
strong!"

The ploughman groaned at hearing this. "Ah," thought he, "where can I
get money for wine? I can scarcely earn food enough for so many; and who
will give me wine?"

Pet was greatly distressed at finding these painful thoughts throbbing
through and through her. "At home in my palace," she said, "everybody
drinks a bottle of wine a day, and they are not sick, and are all
strong. I must see about this afterwards." Then she went into the
cottage, and the first thing she did was to take the clock out of her
pocket and wind it up with the little key, and hang it on a nail on the
wall.

"What is that you have got?" said the poor woman from her straw bed.

"Oh, it is a clock that a gentleman made me a present of," said the
ploughman.

The eldest girl now poured out some porridge on a plate and set it down
before her father. Pet was very hungry, and was glad of anything she
could get; but she did not like the porridge, and thought that it was
very different indeed from the food she got at home. But while she was
eating, the poor man's thoughts quite overwhelmed her.

"What is to become of them all?" he thought. "I have ten children, and
my wages are so small, and food and clothing are so dear. When the poor
wife was well, she used to look after the cow and poultry, and turn a
little penny, but now she is not able, and I fear----"

"Oh, father! father! the cow is dead!" cried four boys, rushing into the
cottage.

And the poor man bowed his head on the table and groaned.

"Why, this is dreadfu