h things just now,' answered the father, who could
not bear the thought of giving his favourite daughter to this horrible
old man, and hoped, by putting it off, that something might happen. But
the sisters, who had always been rather jealous of Helga, were secretly
pleased that their bridegrooms should outshine hers.

When the feast was over, Habogi led up a beautiful horse from a field
where he had left it to graze, and bade Helga jump up on its splendid
saddle, all embroidered in scarlet and gold. 'You shall come back
again,' said he; 'but now you must see the house that you are to live
in.' And though Helga was very unwilling to go, something inside her
forced her to obey.

The old man settled her comfortably, then sprang up in front of her as
easily as if he had been a boy, and, shaking the reins, they were soon
out of sight.

After some miles they rode through a meadow with grass so green that
Helga's eyes felt quite dazzled; and feeding on the grass were a
quantity of large fat sheep, with the curliest and whitest wool in the
world.

'What lovely sheep! whose are they?' cried Helga.

'Your Habogi's,' answered he, 'all that you see belongs to him; but the
finest sheep in the whole herd, which has little golden bells hanging
between its horns, you shall have for yourself.'

This pleased Helga very much, for she had never had anything of her own;
and she smiled quite happily as she thanked Habogi for his present.

They soon left the sheep behind them, and entered a large field with
a river running through it, where a number of beautiful grey cows were
standing by a gate waiting for a milk-maid to come and milk them.

'Oh, what lovely cows!' cried Helga again; 'I am sure their milk must be
sweeter than any other cows. How I should like to have some! I wonder to
whom they belong?'

'To your Habogi,' replied he; 'and some day you shall have as much milk
as you like, but we cannot stop now. Do you see that big grey one, with
the silver bells between her horns? That is to be yours, and you can
have her milked every morning the moment you wake.'

And Helga's eyes shone, and though she did not say anything, she thought
that she would learn to milk the cow herself.

A mile further on they came to a wide common, with short, springy turf,
where horses of all colours, with skins of satin, were kicking up their
heels in play. The sight of them so delighted Helga that she nearly
sprang from her saddle with a shriek o