thway,
On the path of liver-colour,
Which the swine have trod quite even,
And the hogs have trampled level,
Over which have passed the lambkins,
And the horses' manes swept over. 140

"Step thou with the step of gosling,
Strut thou with the feet of duckling,
In the yard that's washed so cleanly,
On the smooth and level grassplot,
Where the father rules the household,
And the mother holds dominion,
To the workplace of the brother,
And the sister's blue-flowered meadow.

"Set thy foot upon the threshold,
Then upon the porch's flooring, 150
On the honeyed floor advance thou,
Next the inner rooms to enter,
Underneath these famous rafters,
Underneath this roof so lovely.

"It was in this very winter,
In the summer just passed over,
Sang the floor composed of duckbones,
That thyself should stand upon it,
And the golden roof resounded
That thou soon should'st walk beneath it, 160
And the windows were rejoicing,
For thy sitting at the windows.

"It was in this very winter,
In the summer just passed over,
Often rattled the door-handles,
For the ringed hands that should close them,
And the stairs were likewise creaking
For the fair one robed so grandly,
And the doors stood always open,
And their opener thus awaited. 170

"It was in this very winter,
In the summer just passed over,
That the room around has turned it,
Unto those the room who dusted,
And the hall has made it ready
For the sweepers, when they swept it,
And the very barns were chirping
To the sweepers as they swept them.

"It was in this very winter,
In the summer just passed over, 180
That the yard in secret turned it
To the gatherer of the splinters,
And the storehouses bowed downward,
For the wanderer who should enter,
Rafters bowed, and beams bent downward
To receive the young wife's wardrobe.

"It was in this very winter,
In the summer just passed over,
That the pathways had been sighing
For the sweeper of the pathways, 190
And the cowsheds nearer drawing
To the cleanser of the cowsheds;
Songs and dances were abandoned,
Till should sing and dance our duckling.

"On this very day already,
And upon the day before it,