you are the better thief , ' said the Black Rogue 's wife ; and the Black Rogue added : ` Yes , it is you who are the clever boy ' ; and they divided the spoil and the Black Gallows Bird had one half and the Shifty Lad the other half . A few weeks after that the Black Gallows Bird had news of a wedding that was to be held near the town ; and the bridegroom had many friends and everybody sent him a present . Now a rich farmer who lived up near the moor thought that nothing was so useful to a young couple when they first began to keep house as a fine fat sheep , so he bade his shepherd go off to the mountain where the flock were feeding , and bring him back the best he could find . And the shepherd chose out the largest and fattest of the sheep and the one with the whitest fleece ; then he tied its feet together and put it across his shoulder , for he had a long way to go . That day , the Shifty Lad happened to be wandering over the moor , when he saw the man with the sheep on his shoulder walking along the road which led past the Black Rogue 's house . The sheep was heavy and the man was in no hurry , so he came slowly and the boy knew that he himself could easily get back to his master before the shepherd was even in sight . ' I will wager , ' he cried , as he pushed quickly through the bushes which hid the cabin -- ' I will wager that I will steal the sheep from the man that is coming before he passes here . ' ` Will you indeed ? ' said the Gallows Bird . ' I will wager you a hundred silver pieces that you can do nothing of the sort . ' ` Well , I will try it , anyway , ' replied the boy , and disappeared in the bushes . He ran fast till he entered a wood through which the shepherd must go , and then he stopped , and taking off one of his shoes smeared it with mud and set it in the path . When this was done he slipped behind a rock and waited . Very soon the man came up , and seeing the shoe lying there , he stooped and looked at it . ` It is a good shoe , ' he said to himself , ` but very dirty . Still , if I had the fellow , I would be at the trouble of cleaning it ' ; so he threw the shoe down again and went on . The Shifty Lad smiled as he heard him , and , picking up the shoe , he crept round by a short way and laid the other shoe on the path . A few minutes after the shepherd arrived , and beheld the second shoe lying on the path . ` Why , that is the fellow of the dirty shoe ! ' he exclaimed when he saw it . '
I will go back and pick up the other one , and then I shall have a pair of good shoes , ' and he put the sheep XXXXX the grass and returned to fetch the shoe .
across after as at from if of on past through