The Old Farmer and the Tricksters

Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who had a very old, very ancient cow. The cow was so old she couldn’t give milk or bear calves anymore, and she was nearly blind.

As sad as it made him, he decided to bring her to the market in town and sell her to the butcher. He’d get some gold coins, he thought, so that he could use them to buy a young and energetic heifer.

The next day, the farmer woke at dawn and walked slowly to town with his cow. He got there early, but there were already vendors everywhere. They were setting up their stalls with their goods and preparing for the day.

The market was so busy, with so many people, that he didn’t notice that two tricksters were sitting on a picket fence nearby. They were watching him.

“Hey, farmer,” one of them called out. “That’s a nice goat you’ve got there! Surely you want to sell it. How much is it?”

“These fools can’t even tell a goat from a cow,” the farmer muttered to his cow. He waved them off, gave them a grumpy glare and walked on.

The tricksters, quite entertained by this game, quietly ran ahead of him. They found a clothesline with men’s shirts and trousers and quickly changed their clothes. They raced to a new spot ahead of the farmer and leaned against a wall to wait for him to approach.

“What a great goat, mister farmer, sir!” the second trickster called out. “Are you gonna sell it?”

“Have people lost their minds,” the farmer wondered, “or am I going mad myself?” He looked at the cow again to make sure he’d brought the right animal with him. He actually paused, inspecting her…