t, he went to a cupboard and took out a great silver dish,
and laid the ox on it; and the dish was so big that none of the ox
hung over on any side. This he put on the table, and then he went down
into the cellar and fetched a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and
put the cask on the table, together with two knives, which were each
six feet long. When this was done he bade them go and sit down to
supper and eat. So they went, the lad first and the old dame after,
but she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder how she should ever
use such knives. But her son seized one, and began to cut slices out
of the thigh of the ox, which he placed before his mother. And when
they had eaten a bit, he took up the cask with both hands, and lifted
it down to the floor; then he told his mother to come and drink, but
it was still so high she couldn't reach up to it; so he caught her up,
and held her up to the edge of the cask while she drank; as for
himself, he clambered up and hung down like a cat inside the cask
while he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst, he took up the
cask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man for the good
meal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and, a-feared
though she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man. Then the
lad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip, and after
they had sat a while the man said:

"Well! I must just go and get a bit of supper too;" and so he went to
the table and ate up the whole ox--hoofs, and horns, and all--and
drained the cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the
bench.

"As for beds," he said, "I don't know what's to be done. I've only got
one bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would
sleep in the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed
yonder."

"Thank you kindly, that'll do nicely," said the lad; and with that he
pulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you
the truth, it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame,
she had to follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out of
her wits for fear.

"Well!" thought the lad to himself, "'twill never do to go to sleep
yet. I'd best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears
on."

So, after a while, the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last
he said:

"We two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of
this son of yours."

"But do you know how to s