A Peasant who was beginning to stock his little farm had bought a cow
and a milk-pail at the fair, and was going quietly home by a lonely
path through the forest, when he suddenly fell into the hands of a
Robber. The Robber stripped him as bare as a lime-tree.
"Have mercy!" cried the Peasant. "I am utterly ruined. You have
reduced me to beggary. For a whole year I have worked to buy this dear
little cow. I could hardly bear to wait for this day to arrive."
"Very good," replied the Robber, touched with compassion; "Don't cry
out so against me. After all, I shall not want to milk your cow; so
I'll give you back your milk-pail."