" answered the man. "Since you
have done so well you might have done better."

"Very well," answered the son. "We are now coming to a town where they
are holding a fair. I will change myself into a horse, and you shall
take me there and sell me for a thousand dollars,--no more, no less.
But heed what I say. Do not sell the halter whatever you do, or evil
will surely come of it."

"Very well," said the father. "I will remember."

The son then changed himself into a coal-black horse. His skin was
like satin, his eyes like jewels, and when he moved, his hoofs
scarcely seemed to touch the ground. But around his neck was an old
leather halter that was scarcely fit for an old farm nag.

The father led the horse on to where the fair was being held, and at
once a crowd gathered around him, all bidding for the horse. Some
offered him more and some less.

"The price is a thousand dollars," said the father, "no more, no less.
But that is without the halter."

Then the people all laughed. "Who wants the halter?" they cried. "What
we offer is for the horse alone. The halter we would not take as a
gift."

Then a rough looking, black-haired gypsy elbowed his way through the
crowd. He was really the Green One who had taken on this form, though
this the man did not know.

"I will give you two thousand," he cried. "One thousand for the horse
and one thousand for the halter, but I will not have one without the
other."

When the crowd heard this they laughed louder than ever. They thought
the gypsy was crazy to offer such a price.

As for the father he stood there gaping and he did not know what to
do.

"The price of the horse is a thousand dollars," he said.

"And a thousand for the halter," said the gypsy.

Well, two thousand dollars seemed a fortune to the man. Moreover he
did not see what harm it could do to sell the halter too.

So he let the gypsy have the horse and the halter as well, and the
gypsy paid him two thousand dollars and led the horse away.

And now the lad could not change himself back into his human shape,
because the halter held him, and this Oh knew very well.

He led the horse back to the forest and down to the world that is
under this. "Now I have you again," he said, "and this time you shall
not escape me."

Then he called to his youngest daughter and bade her take the horse
down to the river to drink.

When she had brought the horse to the river bank it said to her.
"Loosen, I pray of thee