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262 eldest, was said to be the hopefullest, and so he asked his father if he might have leave to go out into the world and try his luck.

"Yes, you shall have it," said the old fellow. "Better late than never, my boy."

So he got brandy in a flask, and food in his wallet, and then he threw his fare on his back and toddled down the hill. And when he had walked a while, he fell upon an old wife who lay by the roadside.

"Ah! my dear boy, give me a morsel of food to-day," said the old wife.

But Peter hardly so much as looked on one side, and then he held his head straight and went on his way.

"Ay, ay!" said the old wife, "go along, and you shall see what you shall see."

So Peter went far, and farther than far, till he came at last to the king's grange. There stood the king in the gallery, feeding the cocks and hens.

"Good evening, and God bless your majesty," said Peter.

"Chick-a-biddy! chick-a-biddy!" said the king, and scattered corn both east and west, and took no heed of Peter.

"Well," said Peter to himself, "you may just stand there and scatter corn and cackle chicken-tongue till you turn into a bear;" and so he went into the kitchen, and sat down on the bench as though he were a great man.

"What sort of a stripling are you?" said the cook, for Peter had not yet got his beard. That he thought jibes and mocking, and so he fell to beating and banging