The Herdsman and the Lost Bull

The herdsman counted his cattle at the edge of the forest, and then he counted them again. One bull-calf was gone. He looked behind every tree. He called until his voice was hoarse. All day he searched, and he found nothing.

"Some thief has stolen my calf!" he cried, and he lifted his face to the sky. "Hear me, Hermes! Hear me, Pan! Hear me, all you gods of the forest! Only show me the thief, and I will give you a lamb!"

Not long after, he climbed a small hill and looked down the other side. There at the bottom lay his calf. And there, with its paws on the calf, lay the thief. It was a lion. It was eating.

The herdsman went cold all over. His knees began to knock. He lifted his eyes and his shaking hands to the sky.

"Hear me, gods!" he whispered. "Just now I promised you a lamb if I could find the thief. Well, I have found him! Now I will add a full-grown bull to the calf I have lost, if you will only get me away from him!"