they had chosen, stood a beautiful house--doors and windows, and
everything all complete!

'Now you must fix on a spot for your cow-stalls,' said the girl, when
they had breakfasted off wild cherries; 'and take care it is the proper
size, neither too large nor too small.' And the husband did as he was
bid, though he wondered what use a cow-house could be, as they had no
cows to put in it. But as he was a little afraid of his wife, who knew
so much more than he, he asked no questions.

This night also he was awakened by the same sounds as before, and in the
morning they found, near the stream, the most beautiful cow-house that
ever was seen, with stalls and milk-pails and stools all complete,
indeed, everything that a cow-house could possibly want, except the
cows. Then the girl bade him measure out the ground for a storehouse,
and this, she said, might be as large as he pleased; and when the
storehouse was ready she proposed that they should set off to pay her
parents a visit.

The old people welcomed them heartily, and summoned their neighbours,
for many miles round, to a great feast in their honour. In fact, for
several weeks there was no work done on the farm at all; and at length
the young man and his wife grew tired of so much play, and declared
that they must return to their own home. But, before they started on the
journey, the wife whispered to her husband: 'Take care to jump over the
threshold as quick as you can, or it will be the worse for you.'

The young man listened to her words, and sprang over the threshold like
an arrow from a bow; and it was well he did, for, no sooner was he on
the other side, than his father-in-law threw a great hammer at him,
which would have broken both his legs, if it had only touched them.

When they had gone some distance on the road home, the girl turned to
her husband and said: 'Till you step inside the house, be sure you do
not look back, whatever you may hear or see.'

And the husband promised, and for a while all was still; and he thought
no more about the matter till he noticed at last that the nearer he drew
to the house the louder grew the noise of the trampling of feet behind
him. As he laid his hand upon the door he thought he was safe, and
turned to look. There, sure enough, was a vast herd of cattle, which had
been sent after him by his father-in-law when he found that his daughter
had been cleverer than he. Half of the herd were already through the
fence and