faithful, because they served so well under their eyes;
but instead of that, both were proud and cunning, and thinking that some
evil had happened to their masters, they set themselves to be lords in
their places.
Reckoning Robin had a son called Hardhold, and Wary Will a daughter
named Drypenny. There was not a sulkier girl or boy in the country, but
their fathers made up their minds to make a young lord and a young lady
of them; so they took the silk clothes which Woodwender and Loveleaves
used to wear, to dress them, putting on the lords' children their coarse
clothes. Their toys were given to Hardhold and Drypenny; and at last the
stewards' children sat at the chief tables, and slept in the best rooms,
while Woodwender and Loveleaves were sent to herd the swine, and sleep
on straw in the granary.
The poor children had no one to take their part. Every morning at
sunrise they were sent out--each with a barley loaf and a bottle of sour
milk, which was to serve them for breakfast, dinner, and supper--to
watch a great herd of swine on a wide field near the forest. The grass
was scanty, and the swine were always straying into the wood in search
of acorns. The children knew that if they were lost the wicked stewards
would punish them; and between gathering and keeping their herds in
order, they were readier to sleep on the granary straw at night than
ever they had been within their own silken curtains.
Still, Woodwender and Loveleaves were a great help and comfort to each
other, saying their fathers would come back or God would send them some
friends. So, in spite of swine-herding and hard living, they looked as
cheerful and handsome as ever; while Hardhold and Drypenny grew crosser
and uglier every day, notwithstanding their fine clothes.
The false stewards did not like this. They thought their children ought
to look genteel, and Woodwender and Loveleaves like young swineherds. So
they sent them to a wilder field, still nearer the forest, and gave them
two great black hogs, more unruly than all the rest, to keep. One of
these hogs belonged to Hardhold, and the other to Drypenny. Every
evening when they came home the stewards' children used to come down
and feed them, and it was their delight to reckon up what price they
would bring when properly fattened.
One very hot day, about midsummer, Woodwender and Loveleaves sat down in
the shadow of a mossy rock. The swine grazed about them more quietly
than usual; and
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