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One day he said to her:
'Listen, I have a good idea, there is our gossip the carpenter, he
shall make us a wooden calf, and paint it brown, so that it looks like
any other, and in time it will certainly get big and be a cow.' the
woman also liked the idea, and their gossip the carpenter cut and
planed the calf, and painted it as it ought to be, and made it with
its head hanging down as if it were eating.

Next morning when the cows were being driven out, the little peasant
called the cow-herd in and said: 'Look, I have a little calf there,
but it is still small and has to be carried.' The cow-herd said: 'All
right,' and took it in his arms and carried it to the pasture, and set
it among the grass. The little calf always remained standing like one
which was eating, and the cow-herd said: 'It will soon run by itself,
just look how it eats already!' At night when he was going to drive
the herd home again, he said to the calf: 'If you can stand there and
eat your fill, you can also go on your four legs; I don't care to drag
you home again in my arms.' But the little peasant stood at his door,
and waited for his little calf, and when the cow-herd drove the cows
through the village, and the calf was missing, he inquired where it
was. The cow-herd answered: 'It is still standing out there eating. It
would not stop and come with us.' But the little peasant said: 'Oh,
but I must have my beast back again.' Then they went back to the
meadow together, but someone had stolen the calf, and it was gone. The
cow-herd said: 'It must have run away.' The peasant, however, said:
'Don't tell me that,' and led the cow-herd before the mayor, who for
his carelessness condemned him to give the peasant a cow for the calf
which had run away.

And now the little peasant and his wife had the cow for which they had
so long wished, and they were heartily glad, but they had no food for
it, and could give it nothing to eat, so it soon had to be killed.
They salted the flesh, and the peasant went into the town and wanted
to sell the skin there, so that he might buy a new calf with the
proceeds. On the way he passed by a mill, and there sat a raven with
broken wings, and out of pity he took him and wrapped him in the skin.
But as the weather grew so bad and there was a storm of rain and wind,
he could go no farther, and turned back to the mill and begged for
shelter. The miller's wife was alone in the house, and said to the
peasant: 'Lay yourself on the straw there,' and gave him a slice of
bread and cheese. The peasant ate it, and lay down with his skin
beside him, and the woman thought: 'He is tired and has gone to
sleep.' In the meantime came the parson; the miller's wife received
him well, and said: 'My husband is out, so we will have a feast.' The
peasant listened, and when he heard them talk about feasting he was
vexed that he had been forced to make shift with a slice of bread and
cheese. Then the woman served up four different things, roast meat,

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