town, and sell it; that's what I think; for then we shall have some
money in hand, and such well-to-do people as we ought to have ready
money like the rest of the world. As for the hundred dollars at the
bottom of the chest yonder, we can't make a hole in them, and I'm
sure I don't know what we want with more than one cow. Besides, we
shall gain a little in another way, for then I shall get off with
only looking after one cow, instead of having, as now, to feed and
litter and water two.'

Well, Gudbrand thought his wife talked right good sense, so he set
off at once with the cow on his way to town to sell her; but when he
got to the town, there was no one who would buy his cow.

'Well! well! never mind', said Gudbrand, 'at the worst, I can only go
back home again with my cow. I've both stable and tether for her, I
should think, and the road is no farther out than in'; and with that
he began to toddle home with his cow.

But when he had gone a bit of the way, a man met him who had a horse
to sell, so Gudbrand thought 'twas better to have a horse than a cow,
so he swopped with the man. A little farther on he met a man walking
along and driving a fat pig before him, and he thought it better to
have a fat pig than a horse, so he swopped with the man. After that
he went a little farther, and a man met him with a goat; so he
thought it better to have a goat than a pig, and he swopped with the
man that owned the goat. Then he went on a good bit till he met a man
who had a sheep, and he swopped with him too, for he thought it
always better to have a sheep than a goat. After a while he met a man
with a goose, and he swopped away the sheep for the goose; and when
he had walked a long, long time, he met a man with a cock, and he