Summary

The boy and goatherd woke in the late afternoon, and the boy set out for the well. When he peered down into its depths, he saw the gutted body of the billy goat. He told the goatherd what he had found, and the old man was unable to hide his despair. He asked the boy to travel by himself to a nearby village with a well. Frightened, the boy refused, but the goatherd told him he must either act with Christ-like determination against great odds or their suffering would end with them dying of thirst.

However, before the boy could leave, he would have to butcher the dead goats. He dragged them near the goatherd, who then guided him through the elaborate process of gutting, skinning, and deboning. When it came time to preserve the meat, the boy accidentally wiped an open wound on...