18 | The Lost Idea

earth from the roots thrown out by the
tail; and when Betsy had carefully detached
them and potted them up in small pots,
they grew so rapidly that by midsummer
they were big enough to turn out into
the meadow to graze. Beautiful little Al-
derney cows they were— about twenty of
them.

“ Hum—yes,” said Timothy, “that’s really
a good idea—but it’s not mine! Mine was
worth fifty of it!”

He never left off searching. One day
Old Nathaniel, who was the dirtiest old
man in the village, and the laziest, and the
most grumbly, and had the longest nose,
came out with his barrow and screamed for
joy. Now it had always been Old Nathaniel’s
duty to wheel his barrow, full of stones, half
a mile down the road, as far as the pound;
and he hated the trouble. But this morning
he attached two little balloons, which he had
made, to himself and his barrow; and then
he filled them with gas; and when they were
full, he and the barrow rose to about three
feet in the air,