Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/192

100 of those long hairs in my tail, shut your eyes, and do just what I tell you.”

This the boy did, and the cow then said: “Pull, little brother; pull as hard as you can.” The boy pulled, and soon he felt the hairs coming out in his hands.

Then the cow said: “Open your eyes, little brother, and let us see what we have here.”

So the boy opened his eyes, but, to his astonishment, instead of hairs his hands were full of just the finest kind of brown threads, just the thing, he was sure, to mend the wizard shoemaker’s leather apron.

“Thank you, kind cow,” said he, “for giving me this splendid thread.”

But the cow replied: “Thanks should be from me. I should never have seen my calf again without your help. Besides, I go up and down in the world quite a bit, and always I have seen you helping some one, and I am quite sure that a boy who helps others deserves help himself.”

So the boy put the thread carefully in his pocket, and went on his way. He had passed many a sandy hillside and many a rocky cliff, when he again heard a cry for help. This seemed to come from a cave among big rocks, and when he ran into it, he saw there a bat that had been caught by a big snake.

“Help!” cried the bat, and the boy replied by snatching up a big stone and throwing it at the snake. It hit him—tunk—and the snake turned an inquiring eye upon the boy, who immediately caught up another, larger stone, and hit the snake with a louder tunk. Thereupon the snake turned both eyes inquiringly on the boy, and, seeing him pick up a third even larger