'Which Peter?'
'The son of my master.'
'Tell me all.'
'My master bought Peter a bow—a beautiful bow like yours—and told him to take care of it; and he broke it, and he pretended I had broken it; and I swear I didn't.' (Here the boy made the sign of the cross in token of his innocence.) 'The master is going to beat me,' he added in a whisper, and the tears flowed from his eyes.
'Now, don't cry,' said Basil, taking the apprentice by the hand. He pitied the boy dreadfully, but he did not know how to console him.
'It's all very well for you to say, Don't cry. If you felt his strap you wouldn't talk like that; my master has a heart of stone.'
Basil looked at his own bow; the bow was beautiful, and Basil had not even had time to shoot with it. He sighed and turned away; it would be too hard for him to part with his bow. But when the unhappy boy began to cry again Basil could not bear it. He took him by the hand, and said: 'Here you are; if you wish I'll give you my bow; you can give it to your master, so that he won't beat you.'
'How?' asked the apprentice, hardly believing that Basil would give up his toy, and after looking at him attentively, added: 'Won't you be sorry to give it up? It is such a beautiful bow. I know what to do: let him beat me—I'm not afraid. Better keep it and allow me to shoot with it. Peter never allowed me to shoot, but you will. I'm not afraid.'
Basil pitied the boy still more, and called out: 'No, no, I don't want it; take it;' and Basil put the bow in the apprentice's hands. Immediately after the boy and the bow and the workshop vanished. The Many-Coloured Old Man left off showing pictures, and at the same time the Red Man asked in a well-known voice: 'Basil, are you asleep?'
'No, Mr. Old Man,' answered Basil, with great difficulty.