some friends
to dinner. He ordered her to roast some veal, and to boil a pair of
chickens, and gave her some herbs to make a good savoury, and told her
to bake the best tart she could make. Then he took one of the goats and
tied it to a post in the courtyard, and gave it some grass to eat;
but he bound a cord round the neck of the other goat and led it to the
market.

Hardly had he arrived there, than the three gentlemen who had got his
mule perceived him, and coming up to him said: 'Welcome, Mr. Simon, what
brings you here; are you on the look out for a bargain?'

'I've come to get some provisions,' he answered, 'because some friends
are coming to dine with me today, and it would give me much pleasure if
you were to honour me with your company also.'

The accomplices willingly accepted this invitation; and after Simon had
made all his purchases, he tied them on to the goat's back, and said to
it, in the presence of the three cheats, 'Go home now, and tell Nina to
roast the veal, and boil the chickens, and tell her to prepare a savoury
with herbs, and to bake the best tart she can make. Have you followed
me? Then go, and Heaven's blessing go with you.'

As soon as it felt itself free, the laden goat trotted off as quickly
as it could, and to this day nobody knows what became of it. But Simon,
after wandering about the market for some time with his three friends
and some others he had picked up, returned home to his house.

When he and his guests entered the courtyard, they noticed the goat tied
to the post quietly chewing the cud. They were not a little astonished
at this, for of course they thought it was the same goat that Simon had
sent home laden with provisions. As soon as they reached the house Mr.
Simon said to his housekeeper, 'Well, Nina, have you done what I told
the goat to tell you to do?' The artful woman, who at once understood
her master, answered, 'Certainly I have. The veal is roasted, and the
chickens boiled.'

'That's all right,' said Simon.

When the three rogues saw the cooked meats, and the tart in the
oven, and heard Nina's words, they were nearly beside themselves with
amazement, and began to consult at once how they were to get the goat
into their own possession. At last, towards the end of the meal, having
sought in vain for some cunning dodge to get the goat away from Mr.
Simon, one of them said to him, 'My worthy host, you must sell your goat
to us.'

Simon replied that he was most