mother. ‘For my part, I believe every word they say;’ then she kissed
them, and hugged them, and cried over them a little, while the father
sat by, looking sour and glum. The children, when they placed the goat
and the sheep in the stable, had each taken a handful of gold and silver
coins from the horns of the wonderful animals. So now the boy went
forward and placed upon the table near his father a handful of gold and
silver. The girl did the same.
“The father heard the rattle and jingle of coin, and, looking around,
saw there at his elbow more money than he had ever seen before in all
his life. He was both astonished and alarmed.
“‘Worse and worse!’ he cried, throwing up his hands. ‘Worse and worse!
We are ruined! Tell me where you got that treasure, that I may take it
back to its owner. Make haste! If there’s any delay about it, we shall
all be thrown into prison.’
“‘Come with us,’ said the boy, ‘and we will show you where we found the
treasure.’
“So they went out of the house and into the stable, and there the
children showed their father where the treasure came from.
“‘Wonderful! most wonderful!’ exclaimed the father. ‘Wonderful! most
wonderful!’ cried the mother. Then they hugged and kissed their children
again and again, and all were very happy. It made no difference now
whether crops were good or bad.”
“The man was mighty honest,” remarked Mr. Rabbit.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Meadows. “But a man can be honest and thick-headed at
the same time, and that was the way with this man. He was too honest to
keep other people’s money, and too thick-headed to know how to keep his
own.”
“Excuse me!” exclaimed Mr. Rabbit, with a bow that made his ears flop;
“excuse me! I thought the story had come to an end. You said they were
all very happy; so I says to myself, ‘Now is the time to make a slight
remark.’”
“No; the end of the story is yet to come,” replied Mrs. Meadows. “But if
these children are getting tired, I’m ready to quit. Goodness knows, I
don’t want to worry them, and I don’t want to make them think that I
want to do all the talking.”
“Please go on,” said Sweetest Susan.
“Well, when the father found where the money and treasure came from, he
was willing to believe that his children had visited Uncle Rain and
Brother Drouth; for he knew perfectly well that the wonderful black
sheep and the wonderful snow-white goat were not bred on any farm in
that country. So his mind was easy; and, as I said, the father, the
mother, and the two children were all happy together.
“The mother and the children were so happy that they stayed at home and
enjoyed one another’s company, and the father was so happy that it made
him restless in the mind. He got in the habit of going to the tavern
every day, and sometimes more than once a day; and he got to drinking
more ale and wine than was good for him. And on these occasions his legs
would wobble under him, as if one leg wanted to go home, and the other
wanted to go back to the tavern.
“Sometimes, at the tavern, he would get to gaming; and when he lost his
money, as he always did, he’d ask his companions to wait until he could
go home and get more. He would soon come back with his pockets full.
This happened so often that people began to talk about it, and to wonder
how a man who had been so very poor could suddenly become so wealthy
that he had money to throw away at the gaming-table. His neighbors were
very curious about it, but they asked him no questions, and he went on
drinking and gambling for many long days.
“But finally there came to that village a company of five men, who let
it be understood that they were peddlers. They came into the village on
foot, carrying packs on their backs, and put up at the tavern. They were
not peddlers, but robbers, who had been attracted to the village by
rumors about the poor man who was rich enough to throw away money night
after night at the gaming-table.
“Shortly after nightfall, three of the five men arranged themselves
around a table; and when the man came in, they invited him to join them.
Two of the five sat by the fire, and appeared to be watching the game.
The man didn’t wait for two invitations, but seated himself at the
table, and called for wine. Then the gaming began. Aided by their two
companions, the three robbers at the table had no difficulty in
swindling the man. Though he came with all his pockets filled with gold
and silver, they were soon emptied. The robbers plied him with wine, and
he played wildly.
“When his money was all gone, he excused himself and said he would go
and get more, and then continue the game. He went out; and, at a sign
from the leader, the two robbers who had been sitting by the fire, rose
and followed him. They had no trouble in doing this, for the man’s legs
were already getting wobbly. One leg wanted to go home and go to bed,
and the other wanted to go back and be stretched out under the table.
“But, though the man’s legs were wobbly, his head was pretty clear. He
knew his way home, and he knew his way into the stable, where the
coal-black sheep and the snow-white goat were housed. The two robbers
followed him as closely as they dared, but it was too dark for them to
see what he was doing. They knew that he went into the stable, and
presently they heard the jingle and clinking of gold and silver, and
then he came out with his pockets full.
“They waited until he had gone on toward the tavern and was out of
sight. Then they slipped into the yard, and crept into the stable. It
was very dark in the stable, but not too dark to see dimly. The two men
felt their way along, and soon saw that there were but two stalls in the
stable. Each went into a stall, and began to feel around. They expected
to find bags of gold and silver stacked around, but they were mistaken.
Finally they stooped to feel along the ground; and, as they did so,
there was a loud thump in each stall and a yell of pain from both
robbers. When they stooped to feel along the ground, the coal-black
sheep and the snow-white goat rushed at them, and gave each one a thump
that nearly jarred the senses out of him. The robbers rolled over with a
howl, and the goat and the sheep thumped them again, and kept on
thumping them.
[Illustration:
AT LAST THE ROBBERS MANAGED TO ESCAPE
]
“But at last the robbers managed to escape, though they made a pretty
looking sight. Their hats were lost, their clothes were torn and muddy,
their heads were bleeding, their eyes were knocked black and blue, and
they felt as if there was not a whole bone in their body. They were too
frightened to talk, but finally their voices came to them.
“‘What was it hit you?’ says one.
“‘I’m blessed if I know,’ says the other. ‘What hit you?’
“‘Something hard,’ says one.
“‘What did it look like?’
“‘Satan dressed in white, and he had his maul and wedge with him. What
did yours look like?’
“‘Satan dressed in black, and he had all his horns and hoofs with him;
and I think he must have struck me one or two licks with his forked
tail.’
“They went off to the nearest branch, and bathed themselves the best
they could, but even then they made a sorry spectacle. Their heads and
faces were still swollen, their eyes were nearly closed, and their
clothes were split and ripped from heel to collar. They didn’t know
where to go. They knew that it wouldn’t do to go back to the tavern and
present themselves among the guests, for that would cast suspicion on
their companions. Finally, they went outside the village, and hid
themselves under a haystack, where they soon fell asleep, and would have
slept soundly if their dreams had not been disturbed by visions of a
black Satan and a white Satan, both armed with long, hard horns and
sharp hoofs.
“All this time, the father of the children, wobbly as he was, sat at the
gaming-table with the three robbers. The robbers were waiting for the
return of their companions, and at last they became so uneasy that they
played loosely, and the man began to win his gold and silver back again.
At last the robbers concluded to go in search of their companions; and
the man went home, carrying with him more gold and silver than he had
ever before brought away from the tavern. The robbers failed to find
their companions until the next day, and the story they told was so
alarming that the band concluded to leave that part of the country, at
least for awhile.
“But reports and rumors of the great wealth of the poor farmer continued
to travel about, and finally they came to the ears of a company of
merchants, who were more cunning in their line of business than the
robbers were in theirs. So these merchants journeyed to the village, and
put up at the tavern. There they soon made the acquaintance of the
fortunate farmer who owned the wonderful coal-black sheep and the
wonderful snow-white goat.
“They talked business with him from the word go. They wanted him to put
his money in all sorts of schemes that were warranted to double it in a
few months. But the man said he didn’t want his money doubled. He
already had as much as he wanted. He told them that if he were to sit on
the street and throw away a million dollars a minute for ten years he’d
be just as rich at the end of that time as he was before he threw away
the first million.
“Of course, the merchants didn’t understand this. Some said the man was
crazy, but the shrewder ones concluded that there must be some secret
behind it all. So they set to work to find it out. They flattered him in
every way. They made him rich presents for himself, his wife, and
children. For the first time he began to wear fine clothes and put on
airs. The shrewd merchants asked his advice about their own business,
and went about telling everybody what a wise man he was. They pretended
to tell him all their own business secrets.
“This, of course, pleased the man very much; and, at last, one day, when
he had more wine in his head than wit, he told his merchant friends that
he made all his gold and silver by shearing a black sheep and milking a
white goat.
“‘Where do you keep these wonderful creatures?’ one of the merchants
asked.
“‘In my stable,’ replied the man,—’in my stable night and day.’
“The greedy merchants were not long in finding out that the man kept a
coal-black sheep and a snow-white-goat in his stable sure enough; and,
after a good deal of persuading and flattering, they got him to consent
to bring his coal-black sheep and his snow-white goat to the tavern, so
that they might see for themselves how rare and valuable the animals
were.
“Well, one night after his wife and children had gone to bed, the man
carried the sheep and the goat to the tavern, and showed them to the
merchants. They offered him immense sums of money for the animals, but
he refused them all. Then they invited him to remain to a banquet which
they had prepared. He wanted to carry his sheep and his goat back home,
and then return to the banquet; but the merchants said the table was
already spread, and he could tie his wonderful animals in the rear hall,
where nobody would bother them.
“Meantime, the merchants had sent out into the country and bought a
black sheep and a white goat; and while some of them were pouring wine
down the man’s goozle, others were untying the wonderful black sheep and
white goat, and putting in their place the animals that had been bought.
When the time came for the man to go home, he was so wobbly in the legs
and so befuddled in the head that he couldn’t tell the difference
between a sheep and a goat. In fact, he had forgotten all about them,
until one of the merchants asked him if he wasn’t going to take his rare
and valuable animals back home.
“The strange sheep and goat were not used to being led about at night by
a man with wobbly legs and a befuddled head, and they cut up such queer
capers that it was much as the man could do to keep on his feet at all.
But, after so long a time, he managed to get them home, and tied them in
the stable.
“So far, so good: but the next morning, when the boy and the girl got up
betimes and went out to feed their pets, as they were in the habit of
doing, they saw at once that something had happened. Their precious pets
had been made way with, and these rough, dirty, and mean-looking animals
put in their place. One glance was enough to satisfy the children of
this, and they set up such a wail that the whole neighborhood was
aroused. Even their father stuck his head out of the window and asked
what was the matter. His head was still befuddled by the night’s
banquet, but his alarm sobered him instantly when he heard what his
children said. He wouldn’t believe it at first; but when he went out
into the stable and saw for himself, he was nearly beside himself with
grief. He declared that it was all his fault, and told what he had done
the night before.
“He was now as poor as he ever was; and his wife said she wasn’t sorry a
bit, because he would now have a chance to go to work and an excuse for
not hanging around the tavern. But the children begged him to go after
their coal-black sheep and their snow-white goat.
“This he promised to do, and he made haste to go to the tavern. The
merchants were still there, but they only laughed at him when he asked
them for his sheep and his goat. They called on the tavern-keeper to
witness that the man had started home with a black sheep and a white
goat.
“‘That is true,’ said the man, ‘and I have them there now. But they are
not mine. Some of you ruffians stole mine and put these in their place.’
“The merchants pretended to be very angry at this, and made as if they
would fall on the man with their fists. But he was a stout fellow, and
was armed with a stout hickory, and so they merely threatened. But the
man failed to get his coal-black sheep and his snow-white goat, and went
home full of grief and remorse.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXIII.
THE BUTTING COW AND THE HITTING STICK.
“I hope that isn’t the end of the story,” remarked Buster John.
“Well,” replied Mr. Rabbit, “we can either cut it off here, or we can
carry it on for weeks and weeks.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Mrs. Meadows; “or, if you want to, you can
tell the rest of the story yourself. No doubt you can tell it a great
deal better than I can.”
“Now you’ll have to excuse me,” remarked Mr. Rabbit. “I thought maybe
you were getting tired, and wanted to rest. Go on with the tale. I’m
getting old and trembly in the limbs, but I can stand it if the rest
can.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Meadows, turning to Buster John and Sweetest Susan,
“the children were very much worried over the loss of the coal-black
sheep and the snow-white goat, and they made up their minds to try and
get them back. The boy said he would go and ask Uncle Rain’s advice, and
the girl said she would visit Brother Drouth once more. So they started
on their journey, one going east and the other going south.
“They met with no adventure by the way, and, having traveled the road
once, they were not long in coming to the end of their journey. The boy
found Uncle Rain at home, and told him all about the loss of his
beautiful black sheep. Uncle Rain grunted at the news, and looked very
solemn.
“‘That’s about the way I thought it would be,’ said he. ‘It takes a
mighty strong-minded person to stand prosperity. But you needn’t be
afraid. Your sheep is not lost. The men who have stolen him can stand
great prosperity no better than your father can. They will wrangle among
themselves, and they will never take the sheep away from the tavern. But
they shall be punished. Come with me.’
“Uncle Rain went out into his barnyard, and the boy followed him. He
went to a stall where a black cow was tied. ‘This,’ said he, ‘is the
butting cow. You are to take her with you. She will allow no one to come
near her but you, and when you give her the word she will run over and
knock down whoever and whatever is in sight. She knows the black sheep,
too, for they have long been in the barn together. When she begins to
low, the black sheep will bleat, and in that way you may know when you
have found it. More than that, the cow will give you the most beautiful
golden butter that ever was seen.’
“Uncle Rain untied the cow, placed the end of the rope in the boy’s
hand, and bade him good-by. The boy went back the way he came, the cow
following closely and seeming to be eager to go with him.
“The girl, who had taken the road to Brother Drouth’s house, arrived
there safely and told her trouble. Brother Drouth said he was very sorry
about it, but as it was not a thing to weep over, he didn’t propose to
shed any tears.
“‘What’s done,’ he said, ‘can’t be undone; but I’ll see that it’s not
done over again.’ He went to a corner of the room, picked up a
walking-stick, and gave it to the little girl. ‘We have here,’ he said,
‘a walking-stick. It is called the hitting stick. Whenever you are in
danger, or whenever you want to punish your enemies, you have only to
say: “Hit, stick! Stick, hit!” and neither one man nor a hundred can
stand up against it. It is not too heavy for you to carry, but if your
hands grow tired of carrying it, just say, “Jump, stick!” and the stick
will jump along before you or by your side, just as you please.’
“Then Brother Drouth bade the girl good-by; and she went on her way,
sometimes carrying the hitting stick, and sometimes making it jump along
the road before her.
“Now, then, while all this was going on, the greedy merchants found
themselves in a fix. When they first got hold of the coal-black sheep
and the snow-white goat, they thought that they had had a good deal of
trouble for nothing. But merchants, especially the merchants of those
days, when there was not as much trade as there is now, had very sharp
eyes, and it was not long before they found the springs under the horns
of the sheep and the goat. Having found the treasure, they remembered
that the man had spent more money in two days than the horns of the
animals would hold, and this led them to discover that the horns were
always full of treasure.
“For a little while they were very happy, and congratulated one another
many times over. But in the midst of their enjoyment the thought came to
them that there must be a division of this treasure. The moment the
subject was broached, the wrangle began. There were more than a dozen of
the merchants, and the question was how to divide the treasure so that
each might have an equal share. Though they took millions from the horns
of the black sheep and the white goat, yet whoever had the animals would
still have the most.
“It was a mighty serious question. They argued, they reasoned, they
disputed, and they wrangled, and once or twice they came near having a
pitched battle. But finally, after many days, it was decided that one
party of merchants should have the black sheep and that another party
should have the white goat. This didn’t satisfy all of them, but it was
the best that could be done; and so they departed, the party with the
white goat going south, and the party with the black sheep going east.
“Now, a very curious thing happened. If either party had kept on
traveling, it would have met the boy or the girl; one with the butting
cow, and the other with the hitting stick. But both parties were
dissatisfied; and they had gone but a little way before they stopped,
and after some talk determined to go back. The merchants with the white
goat determined to follow on after the merchants that had the black
sheep, and secure the animal by fair means or foul. The merchants with
the black sheep determined to follow the merchants with the white goat,
and buy the animal or seize him. So each party turned back.
“The merchants with the white goat reached the tavern first. They had
hardly refreshed themselves, when the tavern-keeper came running in, to
tell them that the other merchants were coming.
“‘Then take our white goat and hide it in your stable,’ they said.
“The landlord did as he was bid; and then meeting the merchants with the
black sheep, he told them that their companions of the morning had also
returned.
“‘Then take our black sheep and hide it in your stable,’ they said. This
the landlord quickly did, and returned to the tavern in time to hear the
merchants greet each other.
“‘What are you doing here?’ asked the black sheep merchants.
“‘We have lost our white goat,’ they replied, ‘and have come here to
hunt it. Why have you returned?’
“‘We have come on the same errand,’ said the others. ‘We have lost our
black sheep, and have returned to find it.’
“Now, the tavern-keeper was not a very smart man, but he had no lack of
shrewdness and cunning. He had heard the merchants wrangling and
quarreling over the black sheep and the white goat, and now he saw them
coming back pretending to be hunting for both the animals, though
neither one was lost. He had sense enough to see that there must be
something very valuable about the black sheep and the white goat; and
so, while the merchants were taking their refreshments, each party
eyeing the other with suspicion, the tavern-keeper slipped out into his
stable, and carried the black sheep and the white goat to an outhouse
out of sight and hearing of the guests.
“As for the merchants, they were in a pickle. Neither party wanted to go
away and leave the other at the tavern; so they waited and waited,—the
black sheep party waiting for the white goat party to go, and the white
goat party waiting for the black sheep party to go.
“‘When do you leave?’ says one.
“‘As soon as we find our sheep. When do you leave?’ says the other.
“‘Quite as soon.’
“There was not much satisfaction in this for either side. Finally, one
of the merchants called the tavern-keeper aside, and asked him where he
had put the black sheep.
“‘In my stable, your honor,’ replied the man.
“Then another merchant called the tavern-keeper aside, and asked him
where he had put the white goat.
“‘In my stable, your honor,’ he replied.
“Now as each of these merchants went out to see that his precious animal
was safe, it was perfectly natural that they should see each other
slipping about in the yard, and that they should meet face to face in
the stable. Both made the excuse that they thought they might find their
lost animals at that point, and both were terribly worked up when they
saw that the stable was empty. Each went back and told his companions,
and pretty soon there was the biggest uproar in that house that the
tavern-keeper had ever heard.
“Both parties went running to the stable, falling over each other on the
way; but the black sheep and the white goat were gone. Then the
merchants went running back into the tavern, and all began yelling at
the tavern-keeper. Instead of making any answer, that cunning chap put
his fingers in his ears, and politely asked the merchants if they wanted
to jar the roof off of the house. They danced around him, yelling and
shaking their fists at him, but he kept his fingers in his ears.
“Finally, they caught hold of the man, and began to pull and haul him
around at a great rate. In this way they compelled him to take his
fingers out of his ears; but he could hear little better, for the whole
crowd was dancing around and squalling like a lot of crazy people at a
picnic. All the tavern-keeper could hear was:—
“‘Where’s our’—‘You’ve got our’—‘Sheep!’ ‘Goat!’
“There was more noise than sense to this rippit. There was so much noise
that it roused the whole neighborhood, and the people of the village
came running in to see what the trouble was. Among them was the mayor;
and he succeeded in quieting the rumpus, not because he was mayor, but
because he had a louder voice than any of them.
“When everything was quiet, the mayor asked the merchants why they were
acting like crazy people.
“‘Because this man has robbed us,’ they cried, pointing to the
tavern-keeper.
“‘Of what has he robbed you?’ asked the mayor.
“‘Of a black sheep and a white goat,’ they replied.
“‘Your honor,’ said the tavern-keeper, when the mayor had turned to him,
‘you have known me all my life, and have never heard that I was a thief.
I want to ask these men a few questions.’ By this time the two parties
of merchants had ranged themselves on different sides of the room. The
tavern-keeper turned to the black sheep party. ‘Didn’t the men over
there come into this house and tell you that they had lost their white
goat?’
“‘They certainly did,’ was the reply.
“Then he turned to the white goat party. ‘Didn’t the men over there tell
you that they had lost their black sheep and had come back to hunt it?’
“‘They certainly did,’ came the answer.
“Both parties tried to explain that they had placed their animals in
charge of the tavern-keeper, but while they were hemming and hawing a
queer thing happened. The boy had come up with his butting cow; and
seeing the merchants still in the tavern, he led her to the door, and
told her to do her whole duty, and nothing but her duty.