A little farther on he met a man walking along and
driving a fat pig before him, and he thought it better to have a fat pig
than a horse, so he traded with the man. After that he went a little
farther, and a man met him with a goat, so he thought it better to have
a goat than a pig, and he traded with the man who owned the goat. Then
he went on a good bit till he met a man who had a sheep, and he traded
with him too, for he thought it always better to have a sheep than a
goat. After a while he met a man with a goose, and he traded away the
sheep for the goose; and when he had walked a long, long time, he met a
man with a cock, and he traded with him, for he thought in this wise,
"Tis surely better to have a cock than a goose."
Then he went on till the day was far spent, and he began to get very
hungry, so he sold the cock for a shilling, and bought food with the
money, for, thought Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside, "Tis always better to save
one's life than to have a cock."
After that he went on homeward till he reached his nearest neighbor's
house, where he turned in.
"Well," said the owner of the house, "how did things go with you in
town?"
"Rather so-so," said Gudbrand, "I can't praise my luck, nor do I blame
it either," and with that he told the whole story from first to last.
"Ah!" said his friend, "you'll get nicely hauled over the coals, when
you go home to your wife.
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