On  another  occasion  I  wished  to  jump  across  a  lake.  When I  was  in  the  middle  of  it,  I  found  it  was  much  larger  than  I had  imagined  at  first.  So  I  at  once  turned  back  in  the  middle of  my  leap,  and  returned  to  the  bank  I  had  just  left,  to  take  a stronger  spring.  The  second  time,  however,  I  again  took  off badly,  and  fell  in  up  to  my  neck.  I  should,  beyond  any  doubt, have  come  to  an  untimely  end,  had  I  not,  by  the  force  of  my own  unaided  arm,  lifted  myself  up  by  my  pig-tail,  together  with my  horse,  whom  I  gripped  tightly  with  my  knees.

- Chapter 4