I have no doubt that you have been out in the country, and have seen a
real old farm-house, with a thatched roof, and moss, and plants
growing wild upon it. There is a stork's nest on the ridge, for one
cannot very well do without the stork; the walls are sloping, the
windows low, and the baking-oven projects from the wall like a fat
little body. The elder-tree hangs over the fence, and there is a
little pool of water, with a duck and her ducklings, beneath some old
willow-trees. There is, also, a dog that barks at everybody who passes
by.
Just such an old farm-house stood out in the country, and there lived
an old couple, a peasant and his wife. Little though they had, there
was one thing they could not do without, and that was the horse, that
found a living by grazing on the roadside.
Father rode on it to town, and the neighbours borrowed it; but the old
couple thought it might perhaps be better to sell the horse or
exchange it for something more useful.
"You will know best, father, what this something should be," said the
wife. "To-day is market-day in town; ride down there and sell the
horse or make a good exchange. What you do is always right--so ride to
the market."
So she wrapped his muffler around him, for she could do this better
than he, and tied it in a double knot, so that it looked very smart;
then she brushed his hat with the palm of her hand, and gave him a
hearty kiss. He rode away on the horse that was about to be sold or
exchanged. Yes; father knew what he was about!
A man came along, leading a cow--as pretty a cow as one could wish to
see.
"She must give good milk, I am sure," thought the peasant; "it would
be a very good exchange to get her for the horse. Hello there, you,
with the cow!" he cried, "let us have a little chat. Of course, a
horse costs more than a cow, but I don't mind that; I happen to have
more use for the cow. Shall we make an exchange?"
"All right," said the man with the cow, and so they exchanged.
Now that the bargain was made, the peasant might have returned home,
for he had finished his business; but, as he had made up his mind to
go to market, he thought he might as well do so, if only to see what
was going on. So off he walked with his cow.
He walked quickly, and the cow walked quickly, and so they soon
overtook a man who was leading a sheep. It was a fine sheep, in good
condition, and with plenty of wool.
"Now, that is just the thing I should like to have," thought the
peasant. "There is plenty of grass for it by the roadside, and in the
winter we could take it into the house with us. As a matter of fact,
it would be more suitable for us to keep than a cow. Shall we
exchange?" he asked.
The man with the sheep was quite willing; so the exchange was made.
The peasant went along the road with his sheep, and at the stile he
met a man with a big goose under his arm.
"That is a heavy bird you have there," said the peasant, "with plenty
of feather and fat. It would look capital tied with a piece of string
by the pond. It would be something for the wife to save the potato
peelings for. She has so often said: 'If we only had a goose!' and now
she can get one, and we shall have it. Shall we exchange? I will give
you the sheep for the goose, and thank you into the bargain," said the
peasant. The other man was quite willing; and so they exchanged, and
the peasant got the goose.
He was now close to the town. The crowd on the road became greater,
and there was a crush and a rush of men and cattle. They were walking
on the road and by the roadside, and at the turn-pike-gate they walked
even in the toll-man's potato-field, where a hen was strutting about
with a string tied to her leg, in order that she should not go astray
in the crowd and so get lost. It was a nice fat hen; it winked with
one eye, and looked very artful. "Cluck! cluck!" it said; what it
thought, when saying it, I do not know; but the peasant thought, as he
saw the hen,
"Now, that is the nicest hen I have ever seen. She is finer than our
parson's hen. I should like to have her. A hen can always pick up
something; she can almost keep herself. I think it would be a good
exchange if I got her for the goose. Shall we exchange?" he said.
"Exchange!" said the other; "that wouldn't be so bad." So they
exchanged; the toll-man got the goose, and the peasant got the hen.
He had done a good deal of business on his way to town; it was very
hot, and he was very tired; he would be all the better for a piece of
bread, and now he was at the inn.
He was going in, and the innkeeper was going out, so they met in the
doorway.
The innkeeper carried a big sack of something.
"What have you there?" said the peasant.
"Apples!" answered the man; "a whole sackful for the pigs."
"Oh, that is a rare lot; I should like mother to see them. Last year
we had only one single apple on the old tree by the peat-house; this
apple we kept on the top of the cupboard until it cracked. 'Well, it
is always property,' said mother; but here she could see any quantity
of property; yes, I should like to show them to her."
"Well, what will you give for them?" asked the man.
"What will I give? I'll give my hen in exchange," he said, and so he
gave his hen in exchange, got the apples, and went into the inn.
Many strangers were present in the room, and they soon heard the whole
story--how the horse was exchanged for the cow, and so on, down to the
apples.
"Well, your good wife will give it to you when you get home," said one
of them.
"Not at all," said the peasant; "she will give me a kiss, instead of
scolding me, and she will say: 'What father does is always right.'"
"Shall we wager," said the stranger, "a barrel of gold coins--a
hundred pounds to a hundredweight?"
"It is quite enough to make it a bushelful," said the peasant; "I can
only set the bushel of apples against it; but I will throw myself and
the wife into the bargain, and that, I should say, is good measure!"
"Done!" he said; and so the wager was made.
The innkeeper's carriage came up, and the stranger got in, the peasant
got in, and the apples got in, and away they all went to the peasant's
house.
"Good evening, mother!"
"Good evening, father!"
"I have made the exchange."
"Well, you understand what you are about," said the woman, and she was
so glad to see him, she forgot all about the sack and the stranger.
"I have exchanged the horse for a cow."
"Oh, how nice to get milk!" said the wife; "now we can have butter and
cheese on the table; that was indeed a capital exchange!"
"Yes, but I exchanged the cow for a sheep."
"Well, that is perhaps better," said the wife; "you always think of
everything. We have just enough pasture for a sheep; ewe's milk, and
cheese, and woolen socks, and a woolen jacket--the cow cannot give
these. How you do think of everything, to be sure!"
"But the sheep I exchanged for a goose."
"Are we really going to have roast goose for Christmas this year,
father dear? You are always thinking of something to please me. This
is a capital idea of yours; the goose can be tied to a string, and we
will fatten her for Christmas!"
"But I exchanged the goose for a hen," said the old man.
"A hen! oh, that was a good bargain!" said the woman. "A hen lays
eggs, and hatches them, and so we can get chickens--a whole
poultry-yard--and that's the very thing I have always wished for."
"Yes; but the hen I exchanged for a sack of apples!"
"Now, I must really kiss you!" said the woman.
"Thank you, thank you, my dear man! Now I'll tell you something; when
you were gone, I thought I would make a nice meal for you--pancakes
with onions. The eggs I had, but I had no onions, so I went over to
the school-master's--they have onions, I know, but the wife is mean,
poor thing. I asked her to lend me some. 'Lend!' she said; 'there is
nothing that grows in our garden that I could lend you--not even an
apple.' But now I can lend her ten, or a whole sackful--that is
really nice, father."
"Well, that is capital!" exclaimed the stranger, "always going
downhill, and yet always cheerful; it is worth the money." So he paid
a hundredweight of gold to the peasant.
Now, that is my story. I heard it when I was little, and now you have
heard it too, and know that what father does is always right.