t
hatchets and axes and cut a path through.

Meanwhile the black horse had gone a long way. Then he said, "Look
behind you, for I hear a noise; is any one coming?"

The youth looked over his shoulder. "Yes, it is the Master," said he,
"and with him are a multitude of people--like a church congregation."

"Still more of his friends have come to help him catch us," said the
horse. "Throw the stone behind us, but be very sure it does not touch
me."

The lad threw the stone behind him, and at once a great stone mountain
rose up where it fell. The Master and his friends could by no means
cross over it. They were obliged to go home and get something to bore
a way through, and this they did.

But by this time the horse had gone a long, long way. Then he said to
the lad, "Look back and see whether you see any one, for I hear a
noise behind us."

The lad looked back. "I see the Master coming," said he, "and a great
multitude with him, so that they are like an army for numbers."

"Yes, yes," said the horse. "He has all of his friends with him now.
Woe betide us if they catch us. Pour the water from the jug behind us,
but be careful that none of it touches me."

The lad stretched back his arm and poured the water out from the jug,
but his haste was such that three drops fell upon the horse's flanks.
Immediately a great lake rose about them, and because of the three
drops that had fallen on the horse, the lake was not only behind them
but about them, too; the steed had to swim for it.

The Trolls came to the edge of the lake, and as there was no way to
cross over they threw themselves down on their stomachs and began to
drink it up. They drank and they drank and they drank, until at last
they all burst.

But the steed came out from the water and up on dry land. Then he went
on until he came to a wood, and here he stopped. "Light down now,"
said he to the lad, "and take off your armor and my saddle and bridle
and hide them in yon hollow oak tree. Over there, a little beyond, is
a castle, and you must go and take service there. But first make
yourself a wig of hanging gray mosses and put it on."

The lad did as the horse told him. He took off the saddle and bridle
and the armor and hid them in the tree, and made for himself a moss
wig; when he put it upon his head all the beauty went out of his face,
and he looked so pale and miserable that no one would have wanted him
around.

"If you ever need me," said the horse, "