Peter Bull
by Andrew Lang · from The Pink Fairy Book
Adapted Version
Once, a farmer and his wife had Peter. They had no children. They loved Peter very much. He was smart and gentle.
The farmer had an idea. "Can the clerk teach Peter to talk?" he asked. "Then Peter can be our son."
The wife said, "Ask the clerk."
The farmer went to the clerk. "Can you teach our bull to talk?" he asked.
The clerk was sneaky. "Yes," he said. "But it is a secret. I need money for books."
The farmer gave him some money. He brought Peter to the clerk.
A week later, the farmer came back. "How is Peter?" he asked.
"He needs more money for books," said the clerk.
The farmer gave more money.
Another week passed. The farmer came back.
"Can Peter talk?" he asked.
"Yes," said the clerk. "He can say 'Moo'."
The farmer was happy. He gave more money for books.
The clerk did not want to teach Peter. He let Peter go free. Peter ran away.
The clerk went to the farmer's house. "Peter ran away!" he said sadly. "He learned to talk. He went to find his family. I used my own money for him."
The farmer and his wife were very sad. "Our son is gone," they cried.
Later, the clerk read a story in a book. It was about a merchant named Peter Bull.
He showed the farmer. "Is this your Peter?" he asked.
"Yes!" said the farmer. "It is him!"
His wife said, "Go see him. Take some money. He may need it."
The farmer took a bag of money. He traveled far. He found the merchant.
The merchant had red hair. He looked a bit like Peter.
"Peter!" said the farmer. "I am your father!"
The merchant was surprised. But he saw the money.
"Hello, Father," he said.
The farmer gave him the money. "Call me Dad," he said.
The merchant agreed. He kept the money.
The farmer went home. He told his wife. They were so happy.
They gave the clerk some money to thank him.
They sold their farm. They went to live with the merchant. They were very happy.
Remember, it's good to think before you believe something.
Original Story
Peter Bull
From the Danish.
There once lived in Denmark a peasant and his wife who owned a very good
farm, but had no children. They often lamented to each other that they
had no one of their own to inherit all the wealth that they possessed.
They continued to prosper, and became rich people, but there was no heir
to it all.
One year it happened that they owned a pretty little bull-calf, which
they called Peter. It was the prettiest little creature they had ever
seen--so beautiful and so wise that it understood everything that was
said to it, and so gentle and so full of play that both the man and his
wife came to be as fond of it as if it had been their own child.
One day the man said to his wife, ‘I wonder, now, whether our parish
clerk could teach Peter to talk; in that case we could not do better
than adopt him as our son, and let him inherit all that we possess.’
‘Well, I don’t know,’ said his wife, ‘our clerk is tremendously learned,
and knows much more than his Paternoster, and I could almost believe
that he might be able to teach Peter to talk, for Peter has a
wonderfully good head too. You might at least ask him about it.’
Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought he could
teach a bull-calf that they had to speak, for they wished so much to
have it as their heir.
The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one could
overhear them, and said, ‘Oh, yes, I can easily do that, but you must
not speak to anyone about it. It must be done in all secrecy, and the
priest must not know of it, otherwise I shall get into trouble, as it is
forbidden. It will also cost you something, as some very expensive books
are required.’
That did not matter at all, the man said; they would not care so very
much what it cost. The clerk could have a hundred dollars to begin with
to buy the books. He also promised to tell no one about it, and to bring
the calf round in the evening.
He gave the clerk the hundred dollars on the spot, and in the evening
took the calf round to him, and the clerk promised to do his best with
it. In a week’s time he came back to the clerk to hear about the calf
and see how it was thriving. The clerk, however, said that he could not
get a sight of it, for then Peter would long after him and forget all
that he had already learned. He was getting on well with his learning,
but another hundred dollars were needed, as they must have more books.
The peasant had the money with him, so he gave it to the clerk, and went
home again with high hopes.
In another week the man came again to learn what progress Peter had made
now.
‘He is getting on very well,’ said the clerk.
‘I suppose he can’t say anything yet?’ said the man.
‘Oh, yes,’ said the clerk, ‘he can say “Moo” now.’
‘Do you think he will get on with his learning?’ asked the peasant.
‘Oh, yes,’ said the clerk, ‘but I shall want another hundred dollars for
books. Peter can’t learn well out of the ones that he has got.’
‘Well, well,’ said the man, ‘what must be spent shall be spent.’
So he gave the clerk the third hundred dollars for books, and a cask of
good old ale for Peter. The clerk drank the ale himself, and gave the
calf milk, which he thought would be better for it.
Some weeks passed, during which the peasant did not come round to ask
after the calf, being frightened lest it should cost him another hundred
dollars, for he had begun to squirm a bit at having to part with so much
money. Meanwhile the clerk decided that the calf was as fat as it could
be, so he killed it. After he had got all the beef out of the way he
went inside, put on his black clothes, and made his way to the peasant’s
house.
As soon as he had said ‘Good-day’ he asked, ‘Has Peter come home here?’
‘No, indeed, he hasn’t,’ said the man; ‘surely he hasn’t run away?’
‘I hope,’ said the clerk, ‘that he would not behave so contemptibly
after all the trouble I have had to teach him, and all that I have spent
upon him. I have had to spend at least a hundred dollars of my own money
to buy books for him before I got him so far on. He could say anything
he liked now, so he said to-day that he longed to see his parents
again. I was willing to give him that pleasure, but I was afraid that he
wouldn’t be able to find the way here by himself, so I made myself ready
to go with him. When we had got outside the house I remembered that I
had left my stick inside, and went in again to get it. When I came out
again Peter had gone off on his own account. I thought he would be here,
and if he isn’t I don’t know where he is.’
The peasant and his wife began to lament bitterly that Peter had run
away in this fashion just when they were to have so much joy of him, and
after they had spent so much on his education. The worst of it was that
now they had no heir after all. The clerk comforted them as best he
could; he also was greatly distressed that Peter should have behaved
in such a way just when he should have gained honour from his pupil.
Perhaps he had only gone astray, and he would advertise him at church
next Sunday, and find out where anyone had seen him. Then he bade them
‘Good-bye,’ and went home nad dined on a good fat veal roast.
Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper, and one day he
chanced to read in its columns of a new merchant who had settled in
a town at some distance, and whose name was ‘Peter Bull.’ He put the
newspaper in his pocket, and went round to the sorrowing couple who had
lost their heir. He read the paragraph to them, and added, ‘I wonder,
now, whether that could be your bull-calf Peter?’
‘Yes, of course it is,’ said the man; ‘who else would it be?’
His wife then spoke up and said, ‘You must set out, good man, and see
about him, for it is him, I am perfectly certain. Take a good sum of
money with you, too; for who knows but what he may want some cash now
that he has turned a merchant!’
Next day the man got a bag of money on his back and a sandwich in his
pocket, and his pipe in his mouth, and set out for the town where the
new merchant lived. It was no short way, and he travelled for many days
before he finally arrived there. He reached it one morning, just at
daybreak, found out the right place, and asked if the merchant was at
home. Yes, he was, said the people, but he was not up yet.
‘That doesn’t matter,’ said the peasant, ‘for I am his father. Just show
me up to his bedroom.’
He was shown up to the room, and as soon as he entered it, ad caught
sight of the merchant, he recognised him at once. He had the same broad
forehead, the same thick neck, and same red hair, but in other respects
he was now like a human being. The peasant rushed straight up to him
and took a firm hold of him. ‘O Peter,’ said he, ‘what a sorrow you have
caused us, both myself and your mother, by running off like this just
as we had got you well educated! Get up, now, so that I can see you
properly, and have a talk with you.’
The merchant thought that it was a lunatic who had made his way in to
him, and thought it best to take things quietly.
‘All right,’ said he, ‘I shall do so at once.’ He got out of bed and
made haste to dress himself.
‘Ay,’ said the peasant, ‘now I can see how clever our clerk is. He
has done well by you, for now you look just like a human being. If one
didn’t know it, one would never think that it was you we got from the
red cow; will you come home with me now?’
‘No,’ said the merchant, ‘I can’t find time just now. I have a big
business to look after.’
‘You could have the farm at once, you know,’ said the peasant, ‘and we
old people would retire. But if you would rather stay in business, of
course you may do so. Are you in want of anything?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said the merchant; ‘I want nothing so much as money. A
merchant has always a use for that.’
‘I can well believe that,’ said the peasant, ‘for you had nothing at all
to start with. I have brought some with me for that very end.’ With
that he emptied his bag of money out upon the table, so that it was all
covered with bright dollars.
When the merchant saw what kind of man he had before him he began to
speak him fair, and invited him to stay with him for some days, so that
they might have some more talk together.
‘Very well,’ said the peasant, ‘but you must call me “Father.”’
‘I have neither father nor mother alive,’ said Peter Bull.
‘I know that,’ said the man; ‘your real father was sold at Hamburg last
Michaelmas, and your real mother died while calving in spring; but my
wife and I have adopted you as our own, and you are our only heir, so
you must call me “Father.”’
Peter Bull was quite willing to do so, and it was settled that he should
keep the money, while the peasant made his will and left to him all that
he had, before he went home to his wife, and told her the whole story.
She was delighted to hear that it was true enough about Peter Bull--that
he was no other than their own bull-calf.
‘You must go at once and tell the clerk,’ said she, ‘and pay him the
hundred dollars of his own money that he spent upon our son. He has
earned them well, and more besides, for all the joy he has given us in
having such a son and heir.’
The man agreed with this, and thanked the clerk for all he had done, and
gave him two hundred dollars. Then he sold the farm, and removed with
his wife to the town where their dear son and heir was living. To him
they gave all their wealth, and lived with him till their dying day.
Story DNA
Moral
Gullibility can lead to exploitation, and appearances can be deceiving.
Plot Summary
A wealthy, childless peasant couple, desperate for an heir, asks a cunning parish clerk to teach their beloved bull-calf, Peter, to speak. The clerk repeatedly extorts money from the naive peasants, claiming Peter is learning, before killing and eating the calf. He then fabricates a story about Peter running away after learning to speak. Later, the clerk points the peasants to a newspaper article about a merchant named 'Peter Bull', convincing them it's their transformed calf. The peasant travels to the town, 'recognizes' the merchant, and, blinded by his desire for an heir, gives him all his money and eventually his entire fortune, while the clerk is rewarded for his deception.
Themes
Emotional Arc
hope to sorrow to renewed hope (for the peasant couple), and cunning satisfaction (for the clerk and merchant)
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
Reflects a pre-modern society where literacy was less common, making it easier for a 'learned' person like a clerk to deceive uneducated peasants. The value of an heir was paramount for land-owning families.
Plot Beats (14)
- A childless peasant couple, rich but without an heir, dotes on their bull-calf, Peter.
- The peasant asks the parish clerk if he can teach Peter to talk so they can adopt him.
- The cunning clerk agrees, demanding secrecy and an initial payment of 100 dollars for 'books'.
- The peasant pays two more installments of 100 dollars, with the clerk claiming Peter is learning, eventually only saying 'Moo'.
- The clerk, having fattened the calf, kills and eats it.
- The clerk visits the peasants, claiming Peter ran away after learning to speak, longing for his parents, and that he spent his own money on Peter's education.
- The peasants lament Peter's disappearance, believing the clerk's story.
- The clerk later finds a newspaper article about a merchant named 'Peter Bull' and presents it to the peasants as their transformed calf.
- The peasant's wife encourages her husband to visit 'Peter Bull' with money, believing he needs cash for his new merchant life.
- The peasant travels to the town, finds the merchant, and 'recognizes' him by his broad forehead, thick neck, and red hair, believing him to be Peter.
- The merchant, thinking the peasant is a lunatic, humors him, especially when the peasant offers him a bag of money.
- The peasant insists the merchant call him 'Father', explaining their adoption story, which the merchant agrees to for the money.
- The peasant returns home, tells his wife, and they reward the clerk with 200 dollars for his 'efforts'.
- The couple sells their farm, gives all their wealth to 'Peter Bull', and lives with him until their death.
Characters
Peter Bull ★ protagonist
A pretty little bull-calf, later described as having a broad forehead, thick neck, and red hair when in human form.
Attire: Initially, none (as a calf). Later, merchant's clothing appropriate for the time period.
Opportunistic, shrewd, willing to deceive to gain wealth.
Image Prompt & Upload
A young boy of about ten years old with a determined expression and bright, curious eyes. He has messy, sandy-blond hair and a smudge of dirt on his cheek. He wears a simple, well-worn brown tunic over a cream-colored shirt, sturdy leather boots, and has a small leather satchel slung across his chest. He stands in a confident, ready pose, one hand shading his eyes as if looking toward a distant horizon. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Peasant ◆ supporting
Not specifically described, but implied to be a typical Danish peasant.
Attire: Typical Danish peasant clothing: simple tunic, trousers, perhaps a cap.
Gullible, hopeful, doting.
Image Prompt & Upload
A middle-aged peasant with a kind, weathered face, sun-tanned skin, and short, messy brown hair. He wears a simple, rough-spun brown tunic with rolled-up sleeves, a patched beige apron, and dark trousers tucked into worn leather boots. He stands in a relaxed pose, leaning slightly on a wooden hoe, with a gentle, weary expression. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Peasant's Wife ◆ supporting
Not specifically described, but implied to be a typical Danish peasant woman.
Attire: Typical Danish peasant woman's clothing: simple dress, apron, headscarf.
Hopeful, easily pleased, somewhat naive.
Image Prompt & Upload
A humble woman in her mid-thirties with a kind, weary face and gentle brown eyes. Her hair is neatly braided and tucked under a simple linen headscarf. She wears a coarse, earth-toned wool dress with a faded apron, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She stands with a modest posture, her hands gently clasped in front of her, holding a small bunch of wildflowers. A faint, hopeful smile touches her lips. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Parish Clerk ⚔ antagonist
Not specifically described, but implied to be somewhat cunning in appearance.
Attire: Black clothes (clerical garb), suggesting a somber and perhaps deceptive nature.
Deceptive, greedy, opportunistic.
Image Prompt & Upload
A stern, gaunt man in his late fifties with a sharp, narrow face and deep-set, calculating eyes. His thin lips are set in a disapproving line. He wears a severe, dark grey wool robe over a high-collared black shirt, with a small, tarnished silver cross at his neck. His posture is rigid and upright, one hand clutching a leather-bound ledger to his chest, the other holding a long, sharp quill pen like a weapon. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
Locations
Peasant's Farm
A good farm, implying fertile land and well-maintained fields. A place of prosperity and wealth, but initially lacking the joy of children.
Mood: Initially peaceful but tinged with sadness, later joyful and prosperous.
The peasant and his wife lament their childlessness and decide to 'educate' Peter the bull.
Image Prompt & Upload
Golden hour sunlight bathes a prosperous peasant farm nestled in rolling hills. A thatched-roof cottage with a stone chimney sits beside a sturdy wooden barn. Well-maintained fields of golden wheat and emerald vegetable patches stretch in neat rows. A clear stream winds through the property, reflecting the warm sky. A small, orderly orchard of fruit trees stands near a vegetable garden bursting with color. The air is still and peaceful, with a sense of quiet abundance. No border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
Parish Clerk's House
Implied to be a place of learning, with books and possibly a study. A place of deception and trickery.
Mood: Secretive, dishonest, and opportunistic.
The clerk agrees to teach Peter to talk, and later deceives the peasant about Peter's progress and death.
Image Prompt & Upload
Dusk settles over the Parish Clerk's House, a crooked timber-framed structure leaning against a twilight sky. Warm, sickly yellow light spills from a single mullioned window, illuminating dust motes and stacks of ancient, leather-bound books visible within. The study inside is cluttered with scrolls, an overturned inkwell, and ominous shadows that stretch like grasping fingers. Outside, the overcast sky is a bruised purple and grey, the air thick and still. Twisted, bare branches of an old oak scrape against the stone walls, their shapes resembling gnarled hands. The path to the heavy oak door is overgrown with weeds, and a faint, unsettling mist clings to the damp cobblestones. The entire scene feels secretive, scholarly, and deeply foreboding, a place where knowledge and deceit are intertwined. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration
Merchant's Bedroom
A room with a bed, where the merchant is found sleeping at daybreak. It contains a table where the peasant empties his bag of money.
Mood: Initially surprised and confused, then calculating and opportunistic.
The peasant finds 'Peter Bull' and reveals his identity, leading to the merchant's acceptance of the peasant as his father.
Image Prompt & Upload
A quiet merchant's bedroom at daybreak, soft dawn light filtering through a tall, arched window with wavy glass panes, casting long shadows across a wide wooden floor. A large four-poster bed with heavy velvet curtains dominates the room, its linens rumpled. In the center, a sturdy oak table holds a small, overflowing burlap sack, with gleaming gold coins spilling onto its surface. The walls are of dark stone, hung with faded tapestries depicting distant lands. A single candle, recently extinguished, wisps a thin trail of smoke from a brass holder on a side table. The air is still, cool, and filled with the pale blues and golds of early morning. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration
