certain peasant had a dog called Browny. So long as the dog was young and strong his master fed him; but when he grew old, and the master saw that he was no longer fit for a watchdog, he began to grudge him his food, and turned him out of doors. Browny went out into the fields and wandered on, not caring where—on and on he went, weeping bitterly.

A wolf came up to him and asked: 'Why do you cry so?'

'I have something to cry for,' answered the dog. 'So long as I was strong, and could feed myself, I served my master truly and faithfully, and now, when I have grown old in his service, he says: "Be off with you!" Where am I to go now? I have not even the strength to catch a hare.'

'Ah, that's too bad!' said the Wolf. 'Now, look here: we wolves are supposed to be downright robbers, because we have to procure our food in some way or other. Yet I wouldn't do such a meanness as your master did. Well, if he does not remember your faithful service, there is another way of making him give you the food that you have honestly deserved from him.'

'Oh! if you could manage that, some day I would repay you for it!' exclaimed poor Browny, licking his lips at the very thought of a good dinner.

'We'll manage it,' said the Wolf. 'When your master comes out into the field with his family to reap the corn, his wife will lay down the baby under a rick; you keep close by, so that I may know which is their field. I will seize the child and run off; you rush after me and make believe to snatch the child away from me, and I will let it go as if I were afraid of you. Then everything will go as you wish.'

No sooner said than done. At harvest-time the man came out into the field with his family to reap. His wife laid down the baby under a rick, took a sickle, and went with her husband to reap. Suddenly the Wolf rushed up, snatched the baby, and ran off. Browny sprang out of the corn and after him. The baby's father and mother were dreadfully frightened: the father tore along, shouting, 'Catch him, Browny—bite him! bite him!...' And Browny did his best: he caught up the Wolf, took the child from him, and brought it to his master.

'Good dog, Browny!' said the master. 'Oh you good dog! I thought he wasn't fit for anything now, and see what a plucky fellow he is!' and he took half a loaf and a piece of lard out of his bag and gave them to Browny.

In the evening the peasants went home, and Browny with them. When they got in, the man said to his wife: 'Light the fire and make us some buck-wheat dough-dumplings, with plenty of lard.'

Browny's mistress made the dumplings—capital dumplings—so nice that they would make your mouth water to look at them! The master gave Browny a seat at the table as if the dog were his best friend, and sat down beside him. Browny, on his part, made an agreeable face, and expressed by his whole appearance that he would know how to behave himself, even if he were the starosta (elder) of the village.

'Now, wife,' said the man, 'turn the dumplings out into the bowl, and let us have supper!'

The wife filled the bowl, and the husband put a helping for Browny into a smaller bowl, and blew it a long time, so that Browny should not burn his muzzle. He had become such an important person all of a sudden!

Browny lived in peace and plenty, but he did not forget his benefactor, the Wolf. He used to think: 'Perhaps the Wolf is wandering about the steppes now, starving!' Then he would grow quite melancholy, and shake his head, sighing.

Meanwhile, Carnival came round, and the peasant began making wedding preparations—his daughter was to be married. Then Browny shook off all his melancholy. He went far away from the village, and called the Wolf. When the Wolf came up, they hardly recognised one another: Browny had grown fat and glossy, while as for the unhappy Wolf, he was thin, worn-out—nothing but skin and bones; his fur hung in ragged tufts, and his teeth chattered from hunger. When Browny looked at his friend his heart ached for pity.

'Come on Sunday evening, brother, to my master's garden-plot,' said the Dog to the Wolf; 'I'll give you such a feast as you have not had in all your life!'

Now a good dinner was a rare thing to the poor Wolf; his eyes shone with delight, and he felt quite sick with hunger.

On Sunday evening the Wolf came to the place agreed upon. That very evening was the wedding feast in the house of Browny's master. Browny came out to his friend, and, seizing a moment when there was no one in the cottage, led him in and hid him under the table. The feast began. When the food was put on the table, Browny instantly snatched a big hunch of bread and the best slice of roast meat and carried it under the table. The guests shouted at him; some wanted to strike him; but the master of the house stopped them, saying: 'Don't touch him; that dog is allowed to do anything he likes; he saved my child, and I will keep him till he dies!' That was just what Browny wanted: he pulled all the best things off the table, and gave them to his friend—pies, everything, even a bottle of horílka[7]. The horílka made the Wolf tipsy, and he said to Browny:

'I want to sing a song!'

'Heaven forbid!' answered Browny; 'there'll be the devil to pay here! I'll bring you a bottle of nalívka[8], only hold your tongue!'

But after drinking the nalívka, the Wolf grew merrier than ever.

'You can do as you like,' said he; 'but now I am going to sing.' He lifted up his muzzle, and such a howl as he set up under the table!

Every one was terrified. Some ran right out of the cottage, some caught up sticks and spades and wanted to kill the Wolf there and then. Browny, seeing that it was a bad job, flew at his friend as if to strangle him. Then the host called out to his guests: 'Don't hit the Wolf, or you will kill my Browny. Let them alone; Browny will settle the Wolf by himself.'

The dog, meanwhile, struggling and pretending to bite, managed to get his friend first out of the cottage, then out of the garden and right across the fields. Then he stopped.

'There, brother,' said he to the Wolf; 'you did me a good turn, and I've done you one. Good-bye!'

'Thank you!' said the Wolf. 'Good luck to you!'

And so they parted.