thrive. With this you will become a rich shepherd. Your wethers will be
always fat a month sooner than the wethers of other shepherds, and every
one of your sheep will have two pounds of wool more than others, and yet
no one will ever be able to see it on them."

The old woman handed him the stick. So mysterious was her gesture, and
so strange and bewitching her smile, that the lad was at once in her
power. He grasped eagerly at the stick, gave her his hand, and cried--

"Done! strike hands! The bell for the stick!"

Cheerfully the old woman took the bell for the stick, and departed like
a light breeze over the field and the heath. He saw her vanish, and she
seemed to float away before his eyes like a mist, and to go off with a
slight whiz and whistle that made the shepherd's hair stand on end.

The underground one, however, who, in the shape of an old woman, had
wheedled him out of his bell, had not deceived him. For the underground
people dare not lie, but must ever keep their word--a breach of it
being followed by their sudden change into the shape of toads, snakes,
dunghill beetles, wolves, and apes, forms in which they wander about,
objects of fear and aversion, for a long course of years before they are
freed. They have, therefore, naturally a great dread of lying. John
Schlagenteufel gave close attention and made trial of his new shepherd's
staff, and he soon found that the old woman had told him the truth, for
his flocks and his work, and all the labour of his hands, prospered with
him, and he had wonderful luck, so that there was not a sheep-owner or
head shepherd but was desirous of having him in his employment.

It was not long, however, that he remained an underling. Before he was