said Peter, 'how have you prospered in the town?'

'Oh! so, so,' answered Gudbrand; 'I can't say that I've been very lucky,
nor have I much to complain of either;' and he went on to tell all that
had happened.

'Neighbor, you've made a pretty mess of it!' said Peter the Graybeard;
'you'll have a nice time of it when you get home. Heaven protect you
from your dame! I wouldn't be in your shoes for ten crowns.'

'Good!' rejoined Gudbrand of the Hill; 'things might have turned out
still worse for me; but, now, I'm quiet in my mind about it, for my wife
is so clever that, right or wrong, no matter what I've done, well or
ill, she'll not say one word about it.'

'I hear and admire your statement, neighbor,' retorted Peter, 'but, with
all respect for you, I do not believe a word of it.'

'Will you lay a wager on it?' said Gudbrand. 'I have a hundred crowns in
my drawer at home, and I'll bet twenty of them against as many from
you.'

'Done, on the spot!' replied Peter. So, joining hands on it, the two
friends entered Gudbrand's house. Peter stood back at the door to hear
what the husband and wife would have to say.

'Good evening, wife!' said Gudbrand. 'Good evening, husband,' said the
good woman; 'you've come back, then, God be praised! How did you fare
all day?'

'Neither well nor ill,' replied Gudbrand. When I got to the town, I
could find no one there to buy our cow, and so I traded her off for a
horse.'

'For a horse!' said the wife. 'An excellent idea, and I thank you with
all my heart. We can go to church, then, in a wagon, like plenty of
other folks who look down upon us, but are no better than we. If we
choose to keep a horse and can feed him, we have a right to do it, I
suppose, for we ask no odds of anybody. Where is the horse? We must put
him into the stable.'

'I did not bring him all the way home,' answered Gudbrand, 'for, on the
road, I changed my mind; I exchanged the horse for a hog.'

'Come, now,' said the wife, 'that's just what I'd have done, in your
place! Thanks, a hundred times over! Now, when my neighbors come to see
me, I'll have, like everybody else, a bite of ham to offer them. What
need had we of a horse? The folks around us would have said, "See the
saucy things! they think it beneath them to walk to church." Let us put
the hog in a pen!'

'I didn't bring him with me,' said Gudbrand, 'for on the way I exchanged
him for a she-goat.'

'Bravo!' said the good wife. 'What a sensible man