that indeed he did not know.

"Let us follow the cow," he cried; "she is the only one who can see in
the dark. I have always heard that animals will lead you aright if you
leave the matter to them." Now as the other robbers really did not have
the least idea in the world as to which was the right direction, this
seemed to them as sensible a plan as any. So they stripped the halter
from Mignon's head and said, "Hi, there! Get along, Cow, and show us the
way."

Mignon looked at them through the dark with her big brown eyes, and
laughed inside. It seemed too good to be true! They had left her free,
and were bidding her to guide them on their way out of the forest back
to their own country. Mignon chuckled again, so loudly that they thought
she must be choking, and hastily untied the cloth from her mouth. This
was just what she wanted, for she longed to chew her cud again. She
tossed her head and gave a gentle "Moo!" as if to say, "Come on, simple
men, and I will show you the way." But really she was thinking to
herself, "Aha! my fine fellows. Now I will lead you a pretty chase. And
you shall be repaid for this night's work, aha!"

Mignon was a very wise cow. She had not pastured in the meadows about
Chartres with blind eyes. She knew the paths north and south and east
and west through the forest and the fern; and even in the dark of the
tangled underbrush she could feel out the way quite plainly. But she
said to herself, "I must not make the way too easy for these wicked men.
I must punish them all I can now that it is my turn."

So she led them roundabout and roundabout, through mud and brambles and
swamps; over little brooks and through big miry ponds where they were
nearly drowned,--roundabout and roundabout all night long. They wanted
to rest, but she went so fast that they could not catch her to make her
stand still. And they dared not lose sight of her big whiteness through
the dark, for now they were completely lost and could never find their
way out of the wilderness without her. So all night long she kept them
panting and puffing and wading after her, till they were all worn out,
cold and shivering with wet, scratched and bleeding from the briars, and
cross as ten sticks.

But when at last, an hour after sunrise, Mignon led them out into an
open clearing, their faces brightened.

"Oh, I think I remember this place," said the first man.

"Yes, it has a familiar look. We must be near home," said the second.