Hans soon picked
himself up on his legs, but he was terribly put out, and said to the
countryman, "That is bad sport, that riding, especially when one mounts
such a beast as that, which stumbles and throws one off so as to nearly
break one's neck. I will never ride on that animal again. Commend me to
your cow: one may walk behind her without any discomfort, and besides
one has, every day for certain, milk, butter, and cheese. Ah! what would
I not give for such a cow!"

"Well," said the Peasant, "such an advantage you may soon enjoy; I will
exchange my cow for your horse."

To this Hans consented with a thousand thanks, and the Peasant, swinging
himself upon the horse, rode off in a hurry.

Hans now drove his cow off steadily before him, thinking of his lucky
bargain in this wise: "I have a bit of bread, and I can, as often as I
please, eat with it butter and cheese, and when I am thirsty I can milk
my cow and have a draught: and what more can I desire?"

As soon, then, as he came to an inn he halted, and ate with great
satisfaction all the bread he had brought with him for his noonday and
evening meals, and washed it down with a glass of beer, to buy which he
spent his two last farthings. This over, he drove his cow farther, but
still in the direction of his mother's village. The heat meantime became
more and more oppressive as noontime approached, and just then Hans came
to a common which was an hour's journey across. Here he got into such a
state of heat that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and he
thought to himself: "This won't do; I will just milk my cow, and refresh
myself." Hans, therefore tied her to a stump of a tree, and, having no
pail, placed his leathern cap below, and set to work, but not a drop of
milk could he squeeze out. He had placed himself, too, very awkwardly,
and at last the impatient cow gave him such a kick on the head that he
tumbled over on the ground, and for a long time knew not where he was.
Fortunately, not many hours after, a Butcher passed by, trundling a
young pig along upon a wheelbarrow. "What trick is this!" exclaimed he,
helping up poor Hans; and Hans told him that all that had passed. The
Butcher then handed him his flask and said, "There, take a drink; it
will revive you. Your cow might well give no milk: she is an old beast,
and worth nothing at the best but for the plough or the butcher!"

"Eh! eh!" said Hans, pulling his hair over his eyes, "who would have
though