ows
when they wandered, and to keep off any strange beasts that threatened
to attack them. On this particular morning there were no cows, so the
dog ran hither and thither as he would, enjoying himself mightily, when
suddenly he set up a loud barking, as if he had found a prey, and the
noise caused the old man to hasten his steps.

When he reached the spot from which the noise came, the dog was standing
at the edge of a pit, out of which came a frightened cry. The old man
looked in, and there he saw a child clad in garments that shone like
gold, shrinking timidly into the farthest corner.

'Fear nothing, my boy,' said the cowherd; 'he will never hurt you, and
even if he wished I would not let him;' and as he spoke he held out his
hand. At this William took courage. He was not really a coward, but he
felt lonely and it seemed a long time since the wolf had gone away.
Would he _really_ ever come back? This old man looked kind, and there
could be no harm in speaking to him. So he took the outstretched hand
and scrambled out of the pit, and the cowherd gathered apples for him,
and other fruits that grew on the tops of trees too high for the wolf to
reach. And all the day they wandered on and on, till they came to the
cowherd's cottage, before which an old woman was standing.

'I have brought you a little boy,' he said, 'whom I found in the
forest.'

'Ah, a lucky star was shining when you got up to-day,' answered she.
'And what is your name, my little man? And will you stay and live with
me?'

'My name is William, and you look kind like my grandmother, and I will
stay with you,' said the boy; and the old people were very glad, and
they milked a cow, and gave him warm milk for his supper.

When the wolf returned--he was not a wolf at all, but the son of the
king of Spain, who had been enchanted by his stepmother--he was very
unhappy at finding the pit empty. Indeed, his first thought was that a
lion must have carried off the boy and eaten him, or that an eagle must
have pounced on him from the sky, and borne him away to his young ones
for supper. But after he had cried till he could cry no more, it
occurred to him that before he gave up the boy for dead it would be well
to make a search, as perchance there might be some sign of his
whereabouts. So he dried his eyes with his tail and jumped up quite
cheerfully.

[Illustration: The Emperor carries William away]

He began by looking to see if the bushes round about wer