So he lived well and was stuffed and crammed with everything that was good, till one day the dairymaid came to give him still more food. Then she said, "Eat away, sheep, you won't be here much longer, we are going to kill you to-morrow."
The sheep thought over this for a while, and then he ate till he was ready to burst; and when he was crammed full, he butted out the door of the pen, and took his way to the neighboring farm. There he went to see a pig whom he had known out on the common, and with whom he had always been very friendly.
"Good-day," said the sheep, "do you know why it is you are so well off, and why it is they fatten you and take such pains with you?"
"No, I don't," said the pig.
"Well, I know; they are going to kill and eat you," said the sheep.
"Are they?" said the pig, "and what is there to be done about it?"
"If you will do as I do," said the sheep, "we'll go off to the wood, build us a house, and set up for ourselves."
Yes, the pig was willing enough. "Good company is such a comfort," he said, and so the two set off.
When they had gone a bit they met a goose.
"Good-day, good sirs, and whither away so fast to-day?" said the goose.