Here also he dwelt for a year and a day, and then he left it because
he could do no harm. For those who loved each other trusted each
other, and the magician made mischief in vain. In one of his disguises
he was detected, and only escaped with his life from the enraged
villagers by changing himself into a cockchafer and flying on to the
next place, where Vengeance had gone before.
In this village he made less mischief than in the first, and more than
in the second. And he exercised all his art, and changed his disguises
constantly; but the dogs knew him under all.
One dog--the oldest dog in the place--was keeping watch over the
miller's house, when he saw the magician approaching, in the disguise
of an old woman.
"Do you see that old witch?" said he to the sparrows, who were picking
up stray bits of grain in the yard. "With her evil tongue she is
parting my master's daughter and the finest young fellow in the
country-side. She puts lies and truth together, with more skill than
you patch moss and feathers to build nests. And when she is asked
where she heard this or that, she says, 'A little bird told me so.'"
"We never told her," said the sparrows indignantly, "and if we had
your strength, Master Keeper, she should not malign us long!"
"I believe you are right!" said Master Keeper. "Of what avail is it
that we have learned the language of men, if we do not help them to
the utmost of our powers? She shall torment my young mistress no
more.
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