were afraid of him. There was an old woman who lived
near with her son. They had a cow, and it was difficult to get grass
for it, particularly in the winter. The boy took the cow and grazed it
on the Trold's Kaempehoi. The Trold came out and objected, and
threatened, and drove the boy and the cow away. The boy, however, got
a piece of soft cheese from his mother, and stole a bird sitting on
its eggs in a nest, these he put in his pocket; so the next day he
took the cow to the same place, and the Trold came out and threatened.
The Trold took up a stone and pressed it in his hand, so that water
came from it, to show how he could crush him. The boy said that is
nothing, and took the cheese from his pocket and pressed it, so that
it appeared as if he was squeezing more out of a stone than the Trold
could. So the Trold said, 'I will throw a stone up, and you can count
until it comes down. The boy did so, and counted up to one hundred and
thirty-one. 'That is good!' said the boy. 'But now count for the stone
I cast;' and the Trold counted, but the boy threw the bird up in the
air, and of course it flew away. The Trold was astonished, and asked
the boy if he would come into his service. The first thing was to
fetch water, as the Trold wanted to brew. The Trold had a large bucket
to fetch water, which the boy could not even lift; so he said, 'This
will not do at all; we had best fetch in the river.' But this the
Trold could not do. The boy behaved in the same way with fetching turf
and fuel; and when the Trold went out to pick nuts, he picked up
stones and gave the Trold to crack. This gave him the toothache, but
the boy advised him to fill his mouth full of water and sit on the
fire until it boiled. This did not succeed, and so the boy continued
to tease the Trold until he compassed his destruction, and taking all
the Trold's gold and silver, he went home, and had enough to live on
all his days, with his mother."

"I have heard a parallel story from many lands," said Hardy.

"That is true enough; it is a story very widespread, with different
incidents and features," said the Pastor.

The next day they drove into Esbjerg, and Garth and Hardy put the
horses on board the steamer for England. It would leave in the
evening, when the tide would allow it to get out of dock.

The Pastor had arranged to stay the night at Esbjerg, to see the very
last of his son Karl on his leaving for England.

As they left, Hardy said, "I shall b