grave. For a moment or two they all chattered together, and took no
notice of the old man. Then one of them said,--

"Well, this time we'll give you something better. We'll give you a
goat."

"A goat?" says the old man.

"A goat with a cold in its head," said the children; and they crowded
round him and took him behind the hut where there was a gray goat with
a long beard cropping the short grass.

"It's a good enough goat," says the old man; "I don't see anything
wrong with him."

"It's better than that," cried the children. "You tell it to sneeze."

The old man thought the children might be laughing at him, but he did
not care, and he remembered the tablecloth. So he took off his hat and
bowed to the goat. "Sneeze, goat," says he.

And instantly the goat started sneezing as if it would shake itself to
pieces. And as it sneezed, good gold pieces flew from it in all
directions, till the ground was thick with them.

"That's enough," said the children hurriedly; "tell him to stop, for
all this gold is no use to us, and it's such a bother having to sweep
it away."

"Stop sneezing, goat," says the old man; and the goat stopped