The Gold Colt and the Fire Dragon Shirt

They waited till midnight. Suddenly the horse opened his hind legs. Skinflint sensed that he

was about to "produce." He quickly brought over a lacquered tray and held it right below the

horse's behind. He waited for ages, but nothing happened. Skinflint was so anxious by now

that he lifted the horse's tail, bent down and peered upwards to keep an eye on further

developments. There was a s


udden "splash," and before Skinflint could do anything about it, the horse had splattered

him all over his face. The "liquid gold" ran down the back of his head and down his neck,

covering his whole body. The stench was so vile that Skinflint started jumping and shouting

and then felt nauseous and began to vomit again and again. Next the horse urinated in GREat

quantity, ruining the lovely red carpet. The whole room stunk to high heaven. Skinflint

realized that he had been cheated, and in a fit of rage, he killed the horse.

The following morning, first thing, he sent some of his hired thugs to track down Bigmouth.

But the peasants had already hidden him away. Skinflint's men searched for him high and low

but always came back empty handed, to his fury and exasperation. There was nothing he could

do except send out spies and wait.

In the twinkling of an eye, it was winter. One day Bigmouth failed to hide properly and was

caught by one of Skinflint's henchmen. When he came face to face with his foe, Skinflint

gnashed his teeth with rage and without saying a word, had Bigmouth locked up in his mill.

He had him stripped of all his padded clothes and left him with nothing but a cotton shirt,

hoping to freeze him to death. It was the very coldest season of the year. Outside, snow was

falling and a bitter wind was blowing. Bigmouth sat huddled up in a corner, trembling with

cold. As the cold was becoming unbearable, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He stood up at

once, heaved a millstone up off the ground and began walking back and forth with it in his

arms. He soon warmed up and started sweating. He passed the entire night in this way,

walking around with the millstone and occasionally stopping for a rest.