e a bad thing.

GOODMAN. Then here is your goose.

TOLL-KEEPER. Here is your fowl.

[_Enter a_ HOSTLER _carrying a sack._]

GOODMAN (_to Hostler_). What have you in that sack, friend?

HOSTLER. Rotten apples--to feed the pigs with.

GOODMAN. Why, that will be a terrible waste. I should like to take them
home to my wife.

HOSTLER (_astonished_). To your wife?

GOODMAN (_nodding_). You see, last year our old apple tree bore only one
apple, which we kept in the cupboard till it was quite rotten. It was
always property, my wife said.

HOSTLER. What will you give me for the sackful? Your wife would then have a
great deal of property.

GOODMAN. Well, I will give you my fowl in exchange.

HOSTLER. Here is your sack of rotten apples.

GOODMAN. Here is your fowl.

[_The Hostler goes with the fowl._]

TOLL-KEEPER. Toll, Goodman!

GOODMAN. I will not go to the Fair to-day. I have done a great deal of
business, and I am tired. I will go back home.

SCENE III

TIME: _two hours later_.
PLACE: _the old farmhouse_.

* * * * *

THE GOODMAN.
HIS WIFE.

* * * * *

[_Enter the_ GOODMAN, _carrying the sack. The_ WIFE _waits for him in the
spare room, because he has been away._]

GOODMAN. Well, Wife, I've made the exchange.

WIFE. Ah, well, you always understand what you're about.

GOODMAN. I got a cow in exchange for the horse.

WIFE. Good! Now we shall have plenty of milk and butter and cheese on the
table. That was a fine exchange!

GOODMAN. Yes, but I changed the cow for a sheep.

WIFE. Ah, better still! We have just enough grass for a sheep.--Ewe's milk
and cheese! Woolen jackets and stockings! The cow could not give all those.
How you think of everything!

GOODMAN. But I changed the sheep for a goose.

WIFE. Then we shall have roast goose to eat this year. You dear Goodman,
you are always thinking of something to please me!

GOODMAN. But I gave away the goose for a fowl.

WIFE. A fowl? Well, that was a good exchange. The fowl will lay eggs and
hatch them. We shall soon have a poultry-yard. Ah, this is just what I was
wishing for!

GOODMAN. Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of rotten apples.

WIFE. My dear, good husband! Now, I'll tell you something. Do you know,
almost as soon as you left me this morning, I began thinking of what I
could give you nice for supper. I thought of bacon with eggs and sweet
herbs.

GOODMAN.