“Ay, that she would!”
“Well, it’s a longsome way; but if you promise I shall have five hundred thalers, I don’t mind if I oblige you.”
“You shall have them, safe enough, never fear!”
On this promise, Taland took the boy home, and made up a story of his surprise at finding him at the bottom of the old chest, and how hardly he had saved his life. The mother, overjoyed at the idea of her son being restored to her under such circumstances, readily counted out the five hundred thalers, and sent Taland home a richer man than when his fortune consisted of a cow.
Elated with his good fortune, our hero determined to have a bit of fun with his spiteful neighbours, and accordingly sat himself down in an arbour, where there was a large round table, in front of the Wirthshaus, and spreading his heap of gold before him, amused himself with counting it out. Of course the sight attracted all the peasants of the place, who were just gathering for a gossip on their way home from work.
“And where did you get such a heap of gold from?” asked a dozen excited voices at once.
“From the sale of the cow-hide, to be sure,” replied Taland, in an inanimate voice.
“What! the cow-hide all riddled with holes?” vociferated his interlocutors, in a chorus of ridicule.
“To be sure; that’s just what made it so valuable,” persisted Taland, confidently.
“What! the tanner gives more for a hide all full of holes than for a sound one?”