it very comfortably and doing nothing at all, while the others had to
work hard both for their own and her living. One of the women began to
make some insinuations to her about this.

"Well, I suppose you didn't come out of the egg either before you could
chirp," said the woman who was on the egg, "But I think there is
something in this egg, for I fancy I can hear some one inside grumbling
every other moment: 'Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!' You can come
and sit for eight days now, and then we will sit and work in turn, all
of us."

So when the fifth in turn had sat for eight days, she heard plainly some
one inside the egg screeching for "Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!"
And so she made a hole in it; but instead of a gosling out came a baby,
but it was awfully ugly, and had a big head and a tiny little body. The
first thing it screamed out for, as soon as it put its head outside the
egg, was "Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!" And so they called it
"the greedy youngster."

Ugly as he was, they were fond of him at first; but before long he
became so greedy that he ate up all the meat they had. When they boiled
a dish of soup or a pot of porridge which they thought would be
sufficient for all six, he finished it all by himself. So they would not
have him any longer.

"I have not had a decent meal since this changeling crept out of the
eggshell," said one of them, and when the youngster heard that they were
all of the same opinion, he said he was quite willing to go his way; "if
they did not want him, he was sure he did not want them," and with that
he left the place.

After a long time he came to a farm where the fields were full of
stones, and he went in and asked for a situation. They wanted a labourer
on the farm, and the farmer put him to pick up stones from the field.
Yes, the youngster went to work and picked up the stones, some of which
were so big that they would make many cartloads; but whether they were
big or small, he put them all into his pocket. It did not take him long
to finish that job, so he wanted to know what he should do next.

"You will have to get all the stones out of the field," said the farmer.
"I suppose you can't be ready before you have commenced?"

But the youngster emptied his pockets and threw all the stones in a
heap. Then the farmer saw that he had finished the work, and he thought
he ought to look well after one who was so strong. He must come in and
get something