And he gave the fowl accordingly, and received the apples, which he carried into the guest room. He leaned the sack carefully by the stove, and then went to the table. But the stove was hot; he had not thought of that. Many guests were present--horse dealers, ox-herds, and two Englishmen--and the two Englishmen were so rich that their pockets bulged out with gold coins, and almost burst; and they could wager, too, as you shall hear. Hiss-s-s! hiss-s-s! What was that by the stove? The apples were beginning to roast. "What is that?" "Why, do you know---" said our peasant. And he told the whole story of the horse that he had exchanged for a cow, and all the rest of it down to the apples. "Well, your old woman will give it you well when you get home," said one of the Englishmen. "There will be a disturbance." "What?--give me what?" said the peasant. "She will kiss me, and say, 'What the old man does is always right.'" "Shall we wager?" said the Englishman. "We'll wager coined gold by the ton--a hundred pounds to the hundredweight!" "A bushel will be enough," replied the peasant. "I can only set the bushel of apples against it; and I'll throw myself and my old woman into the bargain--and I fancy that's piling up the measure." "Done--taken!" And the bet was made. The host's carriage came up, and the Englishmen got in, and the peasant got in; away they went, and soon they stopped before the peasant's hut. "Good evening, old woman." "Good evening, old man." "I've made exchange." "Yes, you understand what you're about," said the woman. And she embraced him, and paid no attention to the stranger guests, nor did she notice the sack. "I got a cow in exchange for the horse," said he. "Heaven be thanked!" said she. "What glorious milk we shall now have, and butter and cheese upon the table! That was a most capital exchange!" "Yes, but I exchanged the cow for a sheep." "Ah, that's better still!" cried the wife. "You always think of everything; we have just pasture enough for a sheep. Ewe's milk and cheese, and woolen jackets and stockings! The cow cannot give those, and her hairs will only come off. How you think of everything!" "But I changed away the sheep for a goose." "Then this year we shall have really roast goose to eat, my dear old man. You are always thinking of something to give me pleasure. How charming that is! We can let the goose walk about with a string to her leg, and she'll grow fatter still before we roast her." "But I gave away the goose for a fowl," said the man. [Illustration: "MY DEAR GOOD HUSBAND!"] "A fowl? That WAS a good exchange!" replied the woman. "The fowl will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall soon have chickens; we shall have a whole poultry yard! Oh, that's just what I was wishing for." "Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of shriveled apples."