“Well, my friend,” exclaimed Brother Rabbit, when the dessert was brought in, “how do you like your dinner?”

“I could certainly wish for nothing better,” replied Brother Goat, rubbing the tips of his horns against the back of his chair; “but my throat is very dry and a little water would hurt neither the dinner nor me.”

“Gracious!” said Brother Rabbit, “I have neither wine-cellar nor water.  I am not in the habit of drinking while I am eating.”

“Neither have I any water, Brother Rabbit,” said Brother Goat.  “But I have an idea!  If you will go with me over yonder by the big poplar, we will dig a well.”

“No, Brother Goat,” said Brother Rabbit, who hoped to revenge himself—­“no, I do not care to dig a well.  At daybreak I drink the dew from the cups of the flowers, and in the heat of the day I milk the cows and drink the cream.”

“Well and good,” said Brother Goat.  “Alone I will dig the well, and alone I will drink out of it.”

“Success to you, Brother Goat,” said Brother Rabbit.

“Thank you kindly, Brother Rabbit.”

Brother Goat then went to the foot of the big poplar and began to dig his well.  He dug with his forefeet and with his horns, and the well got deeper and deeper.  Soon the water began to bubble up and the well was finished, and then Brother Goat made haste to quench his thirst.  He was in such a hurry that his beard got in the water, but he drank and drank until he had his fill.

Brother Rabbit, who had followed him at a little distance, hid himself behind a bush and laughed heartily.  He said to himself:  “What an innocent creature you are!”

The next day, when Brother Goat, with his big beard and sharp horns, returned to his well to get some water, he saw the tracks of Brother Rabbit in the soft earth.  This put him to thinking.  He sat down, pulled his beard, scratched his head, and tapped himself on the forehead.

“My friend,” he exclaimed after a while, “I will catch you yet.”

Then he ran and got his tools (for Brother Goat was something of a carpenter in those days) and made a large doll out of laurel wood.  When the doll was finished, he spread tar on it here and there, on the right and on the left, and up and down.  He smeared it all over with the sticky stuff, until it was as black as a Guinea negro.

This finished, Brother Goat waited quietly until evening.  At sunset he placed the tarred doll near the well, and ran and hid himself behind the trees and bushes.  The moon had just risen, and the heavens twinkled with millions of little star-torches.

Brother Rabbit, who was waiting in his house, believed that the time had come for him to get some water, so he took his bucket and went to Brother Goat’s well.  On the way he was very much afraid that something would catch him.  He trembled when the wind shook the leaves of the trees.  He would go a little distance and then stop and listen; he hid here behind a stone, and there behind a tuft of grass.