This was the last trick this ungrateful boy had it in his power to play, for seeing two men come up to the beggar and enter into discourse with him, he was afraid of being pursued, and therefore ran as fast as he was able over several fields.  At last he came into a lane which led to a farmer’s orchard, and as he was preparing to clamber over the fence a large dog seized him by the leg and held him fast.  He cried out in an agony of terror, which brought the farmer out, who called the dog off, but seized the boy very roughly, saying:  “So, sir, you are caught at last, are you?  You thought you might come day after day and steal my apples without detection; but it seems you are mistaken, and now you shall receive the punishment you have so long deserved.”  The farmer then began to chastise him very severely with a whip he had in his hand, and the boy in vain protested he was innocent, and begged for mercy.  At last the farmer asked him who he was and where he lived; but when he heard his name, he cried out:  “What! are you the little rascal that frightened my sheep this morning, by which means several of them are lost? and do you think to escape?” Saying this he lashed him more severely than before, in spite of all his cries and protestations.  At length, thinking he had punished him enough, he turned him out of the orchard, bade him go home, and frighten sheep again if he liked the consequences.

The little boy slunk away crying very bitterly, for he had been very severely beaten, and now began to find out that no one can long hurt others with impunity; so he determined to go away quietly home, and behave better for the future.

But his sufferings were not yet at an end, for as he jumped down from a stile he felt himself very roughly seized, and, looking up, found that he was in the power of the lame beggar whom he had thrown upon his face.  It was in vain that he now cried, entreated, and begged for pardon; the man, who had been much hurt by his fall, thrashed him very severely with his stick before he would part with him.

He now again went on crying and roaring with pain, but at least expected to escape without any further damage.  But here he was mistaken, for as he was walking slowly through a lane, just as he turned a corner he found himself in the middle of the very troop of boys that he had used so ill in the morning.  They all set up a shout as soon as they saw him, their enemy, in their power, without his dog, and began persecuting him in a thousand various ways.  Some pulled him by the hair, others pinched him, some whipped his legs with their handkerchiefs, while others covered him with handfuls of dirt.  In vain did he attempt to escape; they were still at his heels, and, surrounding him on every side, continued their persecutions.

At length, while he was in this disagreeable situation, he happened to come up to the same jackass he had seen in the morning, and, making a sudden spring, jumped upon his back, hoping by this means to escape.  The boys immediately renewed their shouts, and the ass, who was frightened at the noise, began galloping with all his might, and presently bore him from the reach of his enemies.