Maybe they’ll take it away from me.”

Outraged, the stallion began to puff. “Who’ll take your baby from you? I? The Fiery One here? Or this Gray? None of us would even think of such a thing.”

“The two-legged ones,” moaned Lisa. “They will take my baby.”

The donkey crossed over to her. “Now how did you get that idea? All by yourself?”

Tearfully Lisa looked at Manni. “No, I didn’t get it by myself at all. My sisters and my other relatives told me. They all had it happen to them. When one of us bears a calf, she can’t be happy with it. The Hes steal the beloved little one away from the mother. Nothing does any good. No use pleading or resisting. They drag the poor baby off. ‘That’s the way it will be with you,’ they told me, ‘so be prepared.’ But I’m not prepared. I’m afraid. I can’t bear to think of it.”

“And what do the Hes do with your calves?” Manni wanted to know.

“They kill them.”

“Kill them!” exclaimed Manni. “Why?”

Shaken with horror, Lisa choked out, “The Hes gobble up our murdered little ones.”

“Eat them? Impossible!” Manni insisted, but he shuddered.

Witch, too, was trembling. She stamped, to hide her emotion. “Impossible!”

The donkey found words again. “Our two-legged friends here certainly don’t do that. Perhaps such gruesome things do occur somewhere. Perhaps. Though I doubt even that. Maybe other Hes . . . but ours couldn’t do such a thing.” He shook his head emphatically. “You’ve got to believe that ours are not that sort.”

The stallion whispered in Manni’s ear, “And do you really know them so well?”

Manni retorted quickly, “Yes, I know them through and through,” and turned back to Lisa. “I’ll prove to you that they would never do such a thing.”

“All right, prove it,” Devil challenged. “Show me.”

“Then don’t interrupt,” the donkey snorted. “Listen. You all know—don’t you?—that our younger He never kills and the older He only kills in the forest out of mercy—to protect the innocent and to end suffering. And I’ve seen the dead creatures brought here, and never has there been a young one killed.