rse, "and you shall not suffer for it. If
the Troll Master finds you here when he returns he will surely take
your life, and that must not be. Look over in yonder corner, and you
will find a suit of armor and a sword. Put on the armor and take up
the sword in your hand."

The lad went over to the corner, and there lay the armor and the
sword, but when he would have taken them up they were too heavy for
him. He could scarce stir them. "Well, there is no help for it," said
the horse. "You will have to bathe in the caldron that is in the third
cellar. Only so can you take up the armor and wear it."

This the lad did not want to do, for he was afraid. "If you do not,"
said the horse, "we will both of us lose our lives."

Then the lad went back to the third cellar and shut his eyes and
stepped down into the caldron, and though the waters in it bubbled and
seethed they were as cold as ice and as bitter as death. He thought he
would have died of cold, but presently he grew quite warm again. He
stepped out from the caldron, and he had become the handsomest lad in
the world; his skin was red and white, and his eyes shone like stars.
He went back to where the horse was, and now he lifted the armor with
ease, he had become so strong. He put it on and buckled the sword
about him.

"Now we must be off," cried the horse. "Take the briar whip and the
stone and the jug of water and the flask of ointment. Then mount my
back and ride. If the Troll Master finds us here when he returns, it
will be short shrift for both of us."

The lad did as the horse bade him; he took the briar whip and the
stone, the jug of water and the flask of ointment, and mounted the
black steed's back; and the steed carried him up the steps and out of
the house and fast, fast away through the forest and over the plains
beyond.

After a while the black horse said, "I hear a noise behind us. Look
and see whether any one is coming."

The lad turned and looked. "Yes, yes; it is the Master," said he, "and
with him is a whole crowd of people."

"They are his friends he has brought out against us," said the steed.
"If they catch us it will go ill with us. Throw the thorn whip behind
us, but be sure you throw it clear and do not let it touch even the
tip of my tail."

The lad threw the whip behind him, and at once a great forest of
thorns grew up where it fell. No one could have forced a way through
it. The Master and his friends were obliged to go home and ge