“Where are you going?  Feel your ground!” shouted the boy.

“Oh, there you are!” exclaimed the horse.  “I’ve walked miles to meet you!”

“Have you heard of me?” asked the boy, astonished.

“I’ve got ears, even if I am old!  There are many who talk of you nowadays.”

As he spoke, the horse bent his head that he might see better, and the boy noticed that he had a small head, beautiful eyes, and a soft, sensitive nose.

“He must have been a good horse at the start, though he has come to grief in his old age,” he thought.

“I wish you would come with me and help me with something,” pleaded the horse.

The boy thought it would be embarrassing to accompany a creature who looked so wretched, and excused himself on account of the bad weather.

“You’ll be no worse off on my back than you are lying here,” said the horse.  “But perhaps you don’t dare to go with an old tramp of a horse like me.”

“Certainly I dare!” said the boy.

“Then wake the geese, so that we can arrange with them where they shall come for you to-morrow,” said the horse.

The boy was soon seated on the animal’s back.  The old nag trotted along better than he had thought possible.  It was a long ride in the rain and darkness before they halted near a large inn, where everything looked terribly uninviting!  The wheel tracks were so deep in the road that the boy feared he might drown should he fall down into them.  Alongside the fence, which enclosed the yard, some thirty or forty horses and cattle were tied, with no protection against the rain, and in the yard were wagons piled with packing cases, where sheep, calves, hogs, and chickens were shut in.

The horse walked over to the fence and stationed himself.  The boy remained seated upon his back, and, with his good night eyes, plainly saw how badly the animals fared.

“How do you happen to be standing out here in the rain?” he asked.

“We’re on our way to a fair at Oerebro, but we were obliged to put up here on account of the rain.  This is an inn; but so many travellers have already arrived that there’s no room for us in the barns.”

The boy made no reply, but sat quietly looking about him.  Not many of the animals were asleep, and on all sides he heard complaints and indignant protests.  They had reason enough for grumbling, for the weather was even worse than it had been earlier in the day.  A freezing wind had begun to blow, and the rain which came beating down on them was turning to snow.  It was easy enough to understand what the horse wanted the boy to help him with.

“Do you see that fine farm yard directly opposite the inn?” remarked the horse.

“Yes, I see it,” answered the boy, “and I can’t comprehend why they haven’t tried to find shelter for all of you in there.  They are already full, perhaps?”

“No, there are no strangers in that place,” said the horse.  “The people who live on that farm are so stingy and selfish that it would be useless for any one to ask them for harbour.”