But though he handled his tools with more dexterity than he had yet
exhibited, the Lad petulantly pushed aside the first shoe he made,
which to the King appeared to be, if anything, superior to the one
he had made on Saturday. The Lad, however, quickly explained
himself, saying:

"A master-smith who intends to make his apprentice his equal will
not let him rest at the halfway house. I made a shoe like this when
I was fourteen, and all my father said was, I have hopes of you.'"

So for yet another week the King's nose was kept to the grindstone,
and it would have irritated most men to find their good work
repeatedly condemned; but William was, as you may have observed,
singularly sweet-tempered, besides which he desired nothing so much
as to remain where he was. And for another five days he slept and
ate and worked, until the muscles of his arms began to swell, and he
swung the hammer with as much ease as his master, who now left a
great part of the work entirely in his hands. Although in this
matter of the third shoe he refused to be satisfied.

Nevertheless on Saturday morning the King, making a last effort
before the forge was shut, submitted a shoe so far beyond anything
he had yet achieved, that the Lad could not but say, "This is a good
shoe." And Pepper, seeing them coming, lifted her off hind-foot to
be shod.

"Now as I live!" cried the King. "Another stone! And how she
contrived to hobble so far is a miracle."