; but first tell me, who are you?' They replied, 'We are
the Fire-eaters: far from our own land, and strangers, you have done
us this service; what, now, can we do to serve you?' 'Put me in the
way of a living,' said Noodle, 'and you will do me the greatest
service of all.'

Then the one of them who seemed to be chief took from his finger a
ring having for its centre a great firestone, and threw it into the
snow, saying, 'Wait for three hours till the ring shall have had time
to cool, then take it, and wear it; and whatever fortune you deserve
it shall bring you. For this ring is the sweetener of everything that
it touches: bread it turns into rich meats, water into strong wine,
grief into virtue, and labour into strength. Also, if you ever need
our help, you have but to brandish the ring, and the gleam of it will
reach us, and we will be with you wherever you may be.'

With that they bowed their top-knots to the ground and departed,
inverting themselves swiftly till only the shining print of seven
pairs of feet remained, red-hot, over the place where they had been
standing.

Noodle waited for three hours; then he took up the firestone ring, and
putting it on his finger set out into the world.

At the first door he came to, he begged a crust of bread, and touching
it with the ring found it tasted like rich meats, well cooked and
delicately flavoured. Also, the water which he drew in the hollow of
his hand from a brook by the roadside tasted to him like strong wine.

[Illustration]

II

THE GALLOPING PLOUGH

Noodle went on many miles till he came near to a rich man's farm.
Though it was the middle of winter, all the fields showed crops of
corn in progress; here it was in thin blade, and here green, but in
full ear; and here it was ripe and ready for harvest. 'How is this,'
he said to the first man he met, 'that you have corn here in the
middle of winter?' 'Ah!' said the man, 'you have not heard of the
Galloping Plough; you too have to fall under bondage to my master.'
'What is your master?' inquired Noodle, 'and in what bondage does he
bind man?'

'My master, and your master that shall soon be,' answered the old man,
'is the owner of all this land and the farmer of it. He is rich and
sleek and fat like his own furrows, for he has the Galloping Plough as
his possession. Ah, that! 't is a very miracle, a wonder, a thing to
catch at the heartstrings of all beholders; it shines like a moonbeam,
and is be