‘Oh,’ cried the nanny goat, ‘why should you fall in? Do try and get them!’
‘I am not going to be so silly,’ replied the billy goat.
But the nanny goat still wept and entreated.
‘Look here,’ said her husband, ‘there are plenty of fools in the world, but I am not one of them. This silly king here, because he can’t cure his wife of asking questions, is going to throw his life away. But I know how to cure you of your follies, and I’m going to.’
And with that he butted the nanny goat so severely that in two minutes she was submissively feeding somewhere else, and had made up her mind that the leaves in the well were not worth having.
Then the king, who had understood every word, laughed once more.
The queen looked at him suspiciously, but the king got up and walked across to where she sat.
‘Are you still determined to find out what I was laughing at the other day?’ he asked.
‘Quite,’ answered the queen angrily.
‘Because,’ said the king, tapping his leg with his riding whip, ‘I’ve made up my mind not to tell you, and moreover, I have made up my mind to stop you mentioning the subject any more.’