One day the man said to his wife, 'I wonder, now, whether our
parish clerk could teach Peter to talk; in that case we could not
do better than adopt him as our son, and let him inherit all that
we possess.'

'Well, I don't know,' said his wife, 'our clerk is tremendously
learned, and knows much more than his Paternoster, and I could
almost believe that he might be able to teach Peter to talk, for
Peter has a wonderfully good head too. You might at least ask
him about it.'

Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought
he could teach a bull-calf that they had to speak, for they
wished so much to have it as their heir.

The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one
could overhear them, and said, 'Oh, yes, I can easily do that,
but you must not speak to anyone about it. It must be done in
all secrecy, and the priest must not know of it, otherwise I
shall get into trouble, as it is forbidden. It will also cost
you something, as some very expensive books are required.'

That did not matter at all, the man said; they would not care so
very much what it cost. The clerk could have a hundred dollars
to begin with to buy the books. He also promised to tell no one
about it, and to bring the calf round in the evening.

He gave the clerk the hundred dollars on the spot, and in the
evening took the calf round to him, and the clerk promised to do