One morning about the middle of August, just at mid-day when the sun
was hottest, Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread, and went
to sleep under an oak. And while he slept he dreamt that there appeared
before him a beautiful lady, dressed in a robe of cloth of gold, who
said to him: ‘Go to the castle of Beloeil, and there you shall marry a
princess.’
That evening the little cow-boy, who had been thinking a great deal
about the advice of the lady in the golden dress, told his dream to the
farm people. But, as was natural, they only laughed at the Star Gazer.
The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under the same
tree. The lady appeared to him a second time, and said: ‘Go to the
castle of Beloeil, and you shall marry a princess.’
In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed the same
dream again, but they only laughed at him more than before. ‘Never
mind,’ he thought to himself; ‘if the lady appears to me a third time,
I will do as she tells me.’
The following day, to the great astonishment of all the village, about
two o’clock in the afternoon a voice was heard singing:
‘Raleô, raleô,
How the cattle go!’
It was the little cow-boy driving his herd back to the byre.
The farmer began to scold him furiously, but he answered quietly, ‘I am
going away,’ made his clothes into a bundle, said good-bye to all his
friends, and boldly set out to seek his fortunes.
There was great excitement through all the village, and on the top of
the hill the people stood holding their sides with laughing, as they
watched the Star Gazer trudging bravely along the valley with his
bundle at the end of his stick.
It was enough to make anyone laugh, certainly.