The goat ran; the baby laughed; Pineknot danced and clapped his hands.
All at once, the goat stood up on her hind legs. The baby fell off,
and rolled over and over on the ground. She cried out, though she was
not hurt. And the boys laughed and shouted till the woods rang.

[Illustration: All at once, the goat stood up on her hind legs]

After a while Pineknot thought of the goat; he had not tied her.

"Where is the little goat? Oh, there she is up among the rocks. She
did not run away, Thorn."

"No," said Thorn, "she will not run away now, for we pet her and give
her things to eat. Mother feeds her, too."

"Oh, but she was a wild one when father brought her home," said
Pineknot. "Father killed the mother goat and caught the young one
alive. He said that he would keep her at the cave. Then some day when
he had killed nothing on the hunt, and we were hungry, he would kill
the goat."

"We will ask father not to kill her, but let us keep her for a pet,"
said Thorn.

As the boys were talking, from far away through the forest came a big,
merry song:

"The wild horse ran very fast,
But I ran faster!
The wild horse ran very fast,