When it happened a fourth time the boy grew cross , and said to himself , ` It is no good going on ; there seems to be a beardless man in every mill ' ; and he took his sack from his back , and made up his mind to grind his corn where he was . The beardless man finished grinding his own corn , and when he had done he said to the boy , who was beginning to grind his , ` Suppose , sonny , we make a cake of what you have there . ' Now the boy had been rather uneasy when he recollected his father 's words , but he thought to himself , ` What is done can not be undone , ' and answered , ` Very well , so let it be . ' Then the beardless one got up , threw the flour into the tub , and made a hole in the middle , telling the boy to fetch some water from the river in his two hands , to mix the cake . When the cake was ready for baking they put it on the fire , and covered it with hot ashes , till it was cooked through . Then they leaned it up against the wall , for it was too big to go into a cupboard , and the beardless one said to the boy : ` Look here , sonny : if we share this cake we shall neither of us have enough . Let us see who can tell the biggest lie , and the one who lies the best shall have the whole cake . ' The boy , not knowing what else to do , answered , ` All right ; you begin . ' So the beardless one began to lie with all his might , and when he was tired of inventing new lies the boy said to him , ` My good fellow , if THAT is all you can do it is not much ! Listen to me , and I will tell you a true story . ` In my youth , when I was an old man , we had a quantity of beehives . Every morning when I got up I counted them over , and it was quite easy to number the bees , but I never could reckon the hives properly . One day , as I was counting the bees , I discovered that my best bee was missing , and without losing a moment I saddled a cock and went out to look for him . I traced him as far as the shore , and knew that he had crossed the sea , and that I must follow . When I had reached the other side I found a man had harnessed my bee to a plough , and with his help was sowing millet seed . ' `` That is my bee ! '' I shouted . `` Where did you get him from ? '' ' `` Brother , '' replied the man , `` if he is yours , take him . '' And he not only gave me back my bee , but a sack of millet seed into the bargain , because he had made use of my bee .
Then I put the bag on my shoulders , took the saddle from the cock , and placed it XXXXX the back of the bee , which I mounted , leading the cock by a string , so that he should have a rest .
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