"Didn't the warriors get you, either ?" "If they had," calmly replied Bilbil, "I shouldn't be here." "But how did you escape ?" asked the boy.
"Easily enough.

I kept my mouth shut and stayed away from the rascals," said the goat.

"I knew that the soldiers would not care for a skinny old beast like me, for to the eye of a stranger I seem good for nothing.

Had they known I could talk, and that my head contained more wisdom than a hundred of their own noddles, I might not have escaped so easily." "Perhaps you are right," said the boy.
"I suppose they got the old man ?" carelessly remarked Bilbil.
"What old man ?" "Rinkitink." "Oh, no! His Majesty is at the bottom of the well," said Inga, "and I don't know how to get him out again." "Then let him stay there," suggested the goat.
"That would be cruel.

I am sure, Bilbil, that you are fond of the good King, your master, and do not mean what you say.