“How have matters gone with you in town?” asked the neighbor.

“Oh,” answered Gudbrand, “but so-so; I cannot boast of my luck, neither can I exactly complain of it.”  He then began to relate all that he had done from first to last.

“You’ll meet with a warm reception when you get home to your wife,” said his neighbor.  “God help you, I would not be in your place.”

“I think things might have been much worse,” said Gudbrand; “but whether they are good or bad, I have such a gentle wife that she will never say a word, let me do what I may.”

“Yes, that I know,” answered his neighbor; “but I do not think she will be so gentle in this instance.”

“Shall we lay a wager?” said Gudbrand of the Mountain-side.  “I have got a hundred dollars in my chest at home; will you venture the like sum?”

“Yes, I will,” replied the neighbor, and they wagered accordingly, and remained till evening drew on, when they set out together for Gudbrand’s house; having agreed that the neighbor should stand outside and listen, while Gudbrand went in to meet his wife.

“Good-evening,” said Gudbrand.

“Good-evening,” said his wife, “thank God thou art there.”

Yes, there he was.  His wife then began asking him how he had fared in the town.

“So-so,” said Gudbrand:  “I have not much to boast of; for when I reached the town there was no one who would buy the cow, so I changed it for a horse.”

“Many thanks for that,” said his wife:  “we are such respectable people that we ought to ride to church as well as others; and if we can afford to keep a horse, we may certainly have one.  Go and put the horse in the stable, children.”

“Oh,” said Gudbrand, “but I have not got the horse; for as I went along the road, I exchanged the horse for a pig.”

“Well,” said the woman, “that is just what I should have done myself; I thank thee for that.  I can now have pork and bacon in my house to offer anybody when they come to see us.  What should we have done with a horse?  People would only have said we were grown too proud to walk to church.  Go, children, and put the pig in.”

“But I have not brought the pig with me,” exclaimed Gudbrand; “for when I had gone a little further on, I exchanged it for a milch goat.”

“How admirably thou dost everything,” exclaimed his wife.  “What should we have done with a pig?  People would only have said that we eat everything we own.  Yes, now that I have a goat, I can get both milk and cheese, and still keep my goat.  Go and tie the goat, children.”

“No,” said Gudbrand, “I have not brought home the goat; for when I came a little further on, I changed the goat for a fine sheep.”

“Well,” cried the woman, “thou hast done everything just as I could wish; just as if I had been there myself.  What should we have done with a goat?  I must have climbed up the mountains and wandered through the valleys to bring it home in the evening.  With a sheep I should have wool and clothing in the house, with food into the bargain.  So go, children, and put the sheep into the field.”