r that he was not to be kept back by any such foolery!

Crookhorn again found herself obliged to follow, but she resisted and
resisted with all her might. At length her fore legs doubled up under
her and she sank upon her knees; but the billy goat went on as if
nothing had happened, and Crookhorn had to follow on her knees across
the whole flat part of the saeter field.

Lisbeth and the boys shrieked with laughter, and even the milkmaid
found it impossible not to join in.

When Crookhorn reached the beginning of the hill, where the ground was
more uneven, she thought it wiser to get up and trot along on her four
feet; but although she yielded thus far for the sake of her own
comfort, she still continued to struggle against being forced to go at
all.

The animals took the customary path leading farther over the mountain.
Little by little Crookhorn seemed to conclude that she must submit to
the inevitable. During the first part of the morning she was sullen and
contrary, merely allowing herself to be dragged along; but as the day
wore on and her stomach felt empty and slack, she grew more subdued and
began to walk quietly forward, eating as she went like any other
goat,--only looking up once in a while when she heard the heavy cow
bell in the distance.

The fun was gone when Crookhorn took to behaving well, so the boys
began as usual to wrestle and turn somersaults; and this they kept up
until it was nearly time to go home for their nooning. Then Ole said:
"Now let us slip her loose on trial. I think she must be cured by this
time."

Yes, the others agreed to that.

So they called to the billy goat coaxingly. He came jogging along with
his big horns straight up and Crookhorn trailing after him. Ole first
set the billy goat free, and then, kneeling down before Crookhorn, he
took hold of her beard. Crookhorn pawed with her feet as goats do when
they want to get rid of this hold, but Ole would not let go. He wished
to give her a few admonitions first.

Now that she had found her master, he told her, she need no longer
imagine that she was a cow. Hereafter she was to behave like other
goats or she would have him to deal with; and at this he gave her beard
a wag, as if to add force to his words. That hurt Crookhorn, and she
made a bound straight at him and sent him rolling backward. Then,
passing directly over him, with the willow band trailing behind her,
she set out on a trot across the marsh in the direction from