How the bull did pitch and toss, and bellow and roar, to be sure, but it was all for no use, the lad held on like hunger, until by and by the bull stopped struggling and stood as quiet as a lamb. But the lad held fast to the bull’s horns, and all the time the black crows flew about his head, but never once so much as touched him. At last a cock crew, and then they all changed again into cows, and the lad drove them back into the stable once more, and there they were. By and by came the Grey Master. “Well,” said he, “and did you watch the black cattle?” Oh, yes, the lad had watched them, and it was no such hard task to do; there they were in the stable yonder, safe and sound. Then you should have seen what a sour face the Master pulled over the business! All the same, he had to pay the lad; so what did he want for his wages? “Oh!” said the lad, “it is little that I want. If you will let me have the key that hangs back of the kitchen door I will be satisfied.” So the Grey Master had to go and get it for him, though he would rather have given him one of his eye-teeth. Off marched the lad with what he had come for, and that is more than most of us get. But the Grey Master was not for letting him off so easy as all that, I can tell you, for the more he thought over the business the less he liked to give up the key of wish-house. So after a while he took down the Sword of Sharpness which hung against the wall, slipped his feet into the Shoes of Speed that stood in the corner, took a peep into the Book of Knowledge which lay upon the shelf, to see which way the lad had gone, and then set off after him hot-foot, to get back what he had given away. Just as the lad got to where the apple-tree stood he looked over his shoulder, and there he saw the Grey Master coming over the hills. “And where shall I go now,” says he. “One good turn deserves another,” said the apple-tree; “just come under my branches.” The lad did as he was told, and the apple-tree drooped its branches about him, until one could see neither hide nor hair of him. By and by up came the Grey Master puffing and blowing. “Apple-tree,” says he, “did you see the fisher-lad come by this way?” No, the apple-tree had seen nobody go past that place. So back went the Master home again to have another look into his Book of Knowledge. There he saw as clear as day what sort of trick had been played upon him. Off he started again after the lad at such a rate that the ground smoked under his feet. But the lad had lost no time either, so that when he looked over his shoulder and saw the Grey Master coming across the hills behind him, he had gone as far as the brook. “One good turn deserves another,” said the brook, and it made itself small and smaller, so that the lad stepped over without wetting so much as the sole of his foot. Then it spread itself out again three times as broad as before. Presently up came the Master, fuming like a pot on the fire.