cide the case by
asking us riddles."

When he told his wife what the riddle was, she cheered him greatly by
telling him that she knew the answers at once.

"Why, husband," said she, "our gray mare must be the swiftest thing in
the world. You know yourself nothing ever passes us on the road. As for
the sweetest, did you ever taste honey any sweeter than ours? And I'm
sure there's nothing richer than our chest of golden ducats that we've
been laying by these forty years."

The farmer was delighted.

"You're right, wife, you're right! That heifer remains ours!"

The shepherd when he got home was downcast and sad. He had a daughter,
a clever girl named Manka, who met him at the door of his cottage and
asked:

"What is it, father? What did the burgomaster say?"

The shepherd sighed.

"I'm afraid I've lost the heifer. The burgomaster set us a riddle and I
know I shall never guess it."

"Perhaps I can help you," Manka said. "What is it?"

So the shepherd gave her the riddle and the next day as he was setting
out for the burgomaster's, Manka told him what answers to make.

When he reached the burgomaster's house, the farmer was already there
rubbing his hands and beaming with self-importance.

The burgomaster again propounded the riddle and then asked the farmer
his answers.

The farmer cleared his throat and with a pompous air began:

"The swiftest thing in the world? Why, my dear sir, that's my gray mare,
of course, for no other horse ever passes us on the road. The sweetest?
Honey from my beehives, to be sure. The richest? What can be richer than
my chest of golden ducats!"

And the farmer squared his shoulders and smiled triumphantly.

"H'm," said the young burgomaster, dryly. Then he asked:

"What answers does the shepherd make?"

The shepherd bowed politely and said:

"The swiftest thing in the world is thought for thought can run any
distance in the twinkling of an eye. The sweetest thing of all is sleep
for when a man is tired and sad what can be sweeter? The richest thing
is the earth for out of the earth come all the riches of the world."

"Good!" the burgomaster cried. "Good! The heifer goes to the shepherd!"

Later the burgomaster said to the shepherd:

"Tell me, now, who gave you those answers? I'm sure they never came out
of your own head."

At first the shepherd tried not to tell, but when the burgomaster
pressed him he confessed that they came from his daughter, Manka. The
burgomast