--- title: The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2 — The Lilac Fairy Book · full text with trees description: The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2, «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: By this time the cattle were all tied up again, but as the people could not find their nuts they sat round the fire and began to tell stories. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2 # The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2 The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2 of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole text, 107 sentences and 2551 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 3 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/page/2/) - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/1/) — By this time the cattle were all tied up again, but as the people could not find their nuts they sat round the fire and began to tell stories. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/2/) — ‘I will crack a nut,’ said the Shifty Lad. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/3/) — ‘You shall not,’ cried the Black Gallows Bird; ‘they will hear you.’ - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/4/) — ‘I don’t care,’ answered the Shifty Lad. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/5/) — ‘I never spend Hallowe’en yet without cracking a nut’; and he cracked one. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/6/) — ‘Some one is cracking nuts up there,’ said one of the merry-makers in the farmhouse. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/7/) — ‘Come quickly, and we will see who it is.’ - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/8/) — He spoke loudly, and the Black Gallows Bird heard, and ran out of the loft, dragging the big leather hide after him which the Shifty Lad had sewed to his coat. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/9/) — ‘He is stealing my hide!’ shouted the farmer, and they all darted after him; but he was too swift for them, and at last he managed to tear the hide from his coat, and then he flew like a hare till he reached his old hiding-place. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/10/) — But all this took a long time, and meanwhile the Shifty Lad got down from the loft, and searched the house till he found the chest with the gold and silver in it, concealed behind a load of straw and covered with loaves of bread and a great cheese. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/11/) — The Shifty Lad slung the money bags round his shoulders and took the bread and the cheese under his arm, then set out quietly for the Black Rogue’s house. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/12/) — ‘Here you are at last, you villain!’ cried his master in great wrath. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/13/) — ‘But I will be revenged on you.’ - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/14/) — ‘It is all right,’ replied the Shifty Lad calmly. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/15/) — ‘I have brought what you wanted’; and he laid the things he was carrying down on the ground. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/16/) — ‘Ah! you are the better thief,’ said the Black Rogue’s wife; and the Black Rogue added: - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/17/) — ‘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. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/18/) — 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. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/19/) — 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. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/20/) — 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. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/21/) — 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. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/22/) — 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. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/23/) — ‘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.’ - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/24/) — ‘Will you indeed?’ said the Gallows Bird. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/25/) — ‘I will wager you a hundred silver pieces that you can do nothing of the sort.’ - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/26/) — ‘Well, I will try it, anyway,’ replied the boy, and disappeared in the bushes. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/27/) — 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. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/28/) — When this was done he slipped behind a rock and waited. — checked by a teacher - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/29/) — Very soon the man came up, and seeing the shoe lying there, he stooped and looked at it. — checked by a teacher - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/30/) — ‘It is a good shoe,’ he said to himself, ‘but very dirty. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/31/) — 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. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/32/) — 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. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/33/) — A few minutes after the shepherd arrived, and beheld the second shoe lying on the path. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/34/) — ‘Why, that is the fellow of the dirty shoe!’ he exclaimed when he saw it. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/35/) — ‘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 on the grass and returned to fetch the shoe. - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/36/) — Then the Shifty Lad put on his shoes, and, picking up the sheep, carried it home. - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/37/) — And the Black Rogue paid him the hundred marks of his wager. - [38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/38/) — When the shepherd reached the farmhouse that night he told his tale to his master, who scolded him for being stupid and careless, and bade him go the next day to the mountain and fetch him a kid, and he would send that as a wedding gift. - [39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/39/) — But the Shifty Lad was on the look-out, and hid himself in the wood, and the moment the man drew near with the kid on his shoulders began to bleat like a sheep, and no one, not even the sheep’s own mother, could have told the difference. - [40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/40/) — ‘Why, it must have got its feet loose, and have strayed after all,’ thought the man; and he put the kid on the grass and hurried off in the direction of the bleating. - [41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/41/) — Then the boy ran back and picked up the kid, and took it to the Black Gallows Bird. - [42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/42/) — The shepherd could hardly believe his eyes when he returned from seeking the sheep and found that the kid had vanished. - [43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/43/) — He was afraid to go home and tell the same tale that he had told yesterday; so he searched the wood through and through till night was nearly come. - [44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/44/) — Then he felt that there was no help for it, and he must go home and confess to his master. - [45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/45/) — Of course, the farmer was very angry at this second misfortune; but this time he told him to drive one of the big bulls from the mountain, and warned him that if he lost THAT he would lose his place also. - [46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/46/) — Again the Shifty Lad, who was on the watch, perceived him pass by, and when he saw the man returning with the great bull he cried to the Black Rogue: - [47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/47/) — ‘Be quick and come into the wood, and we will try to get the bull also.’ - [48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/48/) — ‘But how can we do that?’ asked the Black Rogue. - [49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/49/) — ‘Oh, quite easily! - [50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/50/) — You hide yourself out there and baa like a sheep, and I will go in the other direction and bleat like a kid. - [51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/51/) — It will be all right, I assure you.’ - [52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/52/) — The shepherd was walking slowly, driving the bull before him, when he suddenly heard a loud baa amongst the bushes far away on one side of the path, and a feeble bleat answering it from the other side. - [53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/53/) — ‘Why, it must be the sheep and the kid that I lost,’ said he. - [54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/54/) — ‘Yes, surely it must’; and tying the bull hastily to a tree, he went off after the sheep and the kid, and searched the wood till he was tired. - [55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/55/) — Of course by the time he came back the two thieves had driven the bull home and killed him for meat, so the man was obliged to go to his master and confess that he had been tricked again. - [56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/56/) — After this the Black Rogue and the Shifty Lad grew bolder and bolder, and stole great quantities of cattle and sold them and grew quite rich. — checked by a teacher - [57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/57/) — One day they were returning from the market with a large sum of money in their pockets when they passed a gallows erected on the top of a hill. - [58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/58/) — ‘Let us stop and look at that gallows,’ exclaimed the Shifty Lad. - [59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/59/) — ‘I have never seen one so close before. - [60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/60/) — Yet some say that it is the end of all thieves.’ - [61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/61/) — There was no one in sight, and they carefully examined every part of it. - [62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/62/) — ‘I wonder how it feels to be hanged,’ said the Shifty Lad. - [63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/63/) — ‘I should like to know, in case they ever catch me. - [64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/64/) — I’ll try first, and then you can do so.’ - [65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/65/) — As he spoke he fastened the loose cord about his neck, and when it was quite secure he told the Black Rogue to take the other end of the rope and draw him up from the ground. - [66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/66/) — ‘When I am tired of it I will shake my legs, and then you must let me down,’ said he. - [67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/67/) — The Black Rogue drew up the rope, but in half a minute the Shifty Lad’s legs began to shake, and he quickly let it down again. - [68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/68/) — ‘You can’t imagine what a funny feeling hanging gives you,’ murmured the Shifty Lad, who looked rather purple in the face and spoke in an odd voice. - [69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/69/) — ‘I don’t think you have every tried it, or you wouldn’t have let me go up first. - [70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/70/) — Why, it is the pleasantest thing I have ever done. - [71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/71/) — I was shaking my legs from sheer delight, and if you had been there you would have shaken your legs too.’ - [72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/72/) — ‘Well, let me try, if it is so nice,’ answered the Black Rogue. - [73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/73/) — ‘But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don’t want to fall down and break my neck.’ - [74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/74/) — ‘Oh, I will see to that!’ replied the Shifty Lad. - [75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/75/) — ‘When you are tired, just whistle, and I’ll let you down.’ - [76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/76/) — So the Black Rogue was drawn up, and as soon as he was as high as the rope would allow him to go the Shifty Lad called to him: - [77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/77/) — ‘Don’t forest to whistle when you want to come down; but if you are enjoying yourself as I did, shake your legs.’ - [78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/78/) — And in a moment the Black Rogue’s legs began to shake and to kick, and the Shifty Lad stood below, watching him and laughing heartily. - [79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/79/) — ‘Oh, how funny you are! - [80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/80/) — If you could only see yourself! - [81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/81/) — Oh, you ARE funny! - [82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/82/) — But when you have had enough, whistle and you shall be let down’; and he rocked again with laughter. - [83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/83/) — But no whistle came, and soon the legs ceased to shake and to kick, for the Black Gallows Bird was dead, as the Shifty Lad intended he should be. - [84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/84/) — Then he went home to the Black Rogue’s wife, and told her that her husband was dead, and that he was ready to marry her if she liked. - [85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/85/) — But the woman had been fond of the Black Rogue, thief though he was, and she shrank from the Shifty Lad in horror, and set the people after him, and he had to fly to another part of the country where none knew of his doings. - [86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/86/) — Perhaps if the Shifty Lad’s mother knew anything of this, she may have thought that by this time her son might be tired of stealing, and ready to try some honest trade. - [87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/87/) — But in reality he loved the tricks and danger, and life would have seemed very dull without them. - [88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/88/) — So he went on just as before, and made friends whom he taught to be as wicked as himself, till they took to robbing the king’s storehouses, and by the advice of the Wise Man the king sent out soldiers to catch the band of thieves. - [89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/89/) — For a long while they tried in vain to lay hands on them. - [90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/90/) — The Shifty Lad was too clever for them all, and if they laid traps he laid better ones. - [91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/91/) — At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in a barn and killed them, and persuaded the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be killed themselves. - [92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/92/) — Thus it happened that when the sun rose not a single soldier was alive in the village. - [93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/93/) — Of course this news soon reached the king’s ears, and he was very angry, and summoned the Wise Man to take counsel with him. - [94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/94/) — And this was the counsel of the Wise Man--that he should invite all the people in the countryside to a ball, and among them the bold and impudent thief would be sure to come, and would be sure to ask the king’s daughter to dance with him. - [95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/95/) — ‘Your counsel is good,’ said the king, who made his feast and prepared for his ball; and all the people of the countryside were present, and the Shifty Lad came with them. - [96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/96/) — When everyone had eaten and drunk as much as they wanted they went into the ballroom. - [97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/97/) — There was a great throng, and while they were pressing through the doorway the Wise Man, who had a bottle of black ointment hidden in his robes, placed a tiny dot on the cheek of the Shifty Lad near his ear. - [98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/98/) — The Shifty Lad felt nothing, but as he approached the king’s daughter to ask her to be his partner he caught sight of the black dot in a silver mirror. - [99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/99/) — Instantly he guessed who had put it there and why, but he said nothing, and danced so beautifully that the princess was quite delighted with him. - [100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/100/) — At the end of the dance he bowed low to his partner and left her, to mingle with the crowd that was filling the doorway. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/page/2/) - ← previous: [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/1/) - next →: [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/3/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/)