` Take them back to your master as soon as you can , ' said the old man ; but the son only laughed , and said : ` No , no ; they are a present to you ! They will make you fat ! ' For a long while the old man refused to have anything to do with such a wicked scheme ; but his son talked him over in the end , and they killed the oxen as they had killed the sheep and the pigs . Last of all they came to the king 's cherished ox . The son had a rope ready to cast round its horns , and throw it to the ground , but the ox was stronger than the rope , and soon tore it in pieces . Then it dashed away to the wood , the youth following ; over hedges and ditches they both went , till they reached the rocky pass which bordered the herdsman 's land . Here the ox , thinking itself safe , stopped to rest , and thus gave the young man a chance to come up with it . Not knowing how to catch it , he collected all the wood he could find and made a circle of fire round the ox , who by this time had fallen asleep , and did not wake till the fire had caught its head , and it was too late for it to escape . Then the young man , who had been watching , ran home to his master . ` You have been away a long while , ' said the herdsman . ` Where are the cattle ? ' The young man gasped , and seemed as if he was unable to speak . At last he answered : ` It is always the same story ! The oxen are -- gone -- gone ! ' ` G-g-gone ? ' cried the herdsman . ` Scoundrel , you lie ! ' ' I am telling you the exact truth , ' answered the young man . ` Directly we came to the meadow they grew so wild that I could not keep them together . Then the big ox broke away , and the others followed till they all disappeared down a deep hole into the earth .
It seemed to me that I heard sounds XXXXX bellowing , and I thought I recognised the voice of the golden horned ox ; but when I got to the place from which the sounds had come , I could neither see nor hear anything in the hole itself , though there were traces of a fire all round it . '
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