hange himself
into a man, woman or child, a stick, a goat, a ploughshare. Indeed,
there was only one thing whose shape he could not take, and that was a
needle. At least, he could transform himself into a needle, but try as
he might he never was able to imitate the hole, so every woman would
have found him out at once, and this he knew.

Now the hour oftenest chosen by this naughty sprite (whom we will
call Puck) for performing his pranks was about midnight, just when the
shepherds and cowherds, tired out with their long day's work, were sound
asleep. Then he would go into the cowsheds and unfasten the chains that
fixed each beast in its own stall, and let them fall with a heavy clang
to the ground. The noise was so loud that it was certain to awaken the
cowboys, however fatigued they might be, and they dragged themselves
wearily to the stable to put back the chains. But no sooner had they
returned to their beds than the same thing happened again, and so on
till the morning. Or perhaps Puck would spend his night in plaiting
together the manes and tails of two of the horses, so that it would take
the grooms hours of labour to get them right in the morning, while Puck,
hidden among the hay in the loft, would peep out to watch them, enjoying
himself amazingly all the time.

One evening more than eighty years ago a man named William was passing
along the bank of a stream when he noticed a sheep who was bleating
loudly. William thought it must have strayed from the flock, and that he
had better take it home with him till he could discover its owner. So
he went up to where it was standing, and as it seemed so tired that it
could hardly walk, he hoisted it on his shoulders and continued on
his way. The sheep was pretty heavy, but the good man was merciful and
staggered along as best he could under his load.

'It is not much further,' he thought to himself as he reached an avenue
of walnut trees, when suddenly a voice spoke out from over his head, and
made him jump.

'Where are you?' said the voice, and the sheep answered:

'Here on the shoulders of a donkey.'

In another moment the sheep was standing on the ground and William was
running towards home as fast as his legs would carry him. But as he
went, a laugh, which yet was something of a bleat, rang in his ears, and
though he tried not to hear, the words reached him, 'Oh, dear! What fun
I have had, to be sure!'

Puck was careful not always to play his tricks in the s