` We have every right to beat him , ' they replied ; ` he has just devoured a newly-killed pig . ' ` Leave off beating him , ' said Martin , ` and sell him to me instead . ' ` If you choose to buy him , ' answered the butchers derisively ; ` but for such a treasure we wo n't take a penny less than a hundred florins . ' ' A hundred ! ' exclaimed Martin . ` Well , so be it , if you will not take less ; ' and , taking the money out of his pocket , he handed it over in exchange for the dog , whose name was Schurka . When Martin got home , his mother met him with the question : ` Well , what have you bought ? ' ` Schurka , the dog , ' replied Martin , pointing to his new possession . Whereupon his mother became very angry , and abused him roundly . He ought to be ashamed of himself , when there was scarcely a handful of meal in the house , to have spent the money on a useless brute like that . On the following day she sent him back to the town , saying , ` Here , take our last hundred florins , and buy provisions with them . I have just emptied the last grains of meal out of the chest , and baked a bannock ; but it wo n't last over to-morrow . ' Just as Martin was entering the town he met a rough-looking peasant who was dragging a cat after him by a string which was fastened round the poor beast 's neck . ` Stop , ' cried Martin ; ` where are you dragging that poor cat ? ' ' I mean to drown him , ' was the answer . ` What harm has the poor beast done ? ' said Martin . ` It has just killed a goose , ' replied the peasant . ` Do n't drown him , sell him to me instead , ' begged Martin . ` Not for a hundred florins , ' was the answer .
` Surely XXXXX a hundred florins you 'll sell it ? '
On after by for if of than that to with