and footsore, the Constable, the Attorney, and the Sheriff, kept it
up with the best of them.




THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL

Once on a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great
white bear, which he was going to take to the king of Denmark. Now,
it so fell out, that he came to the Dovrefell just about Christmas
Eve, and there he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name
was Halvor, and asked the man if he could get house-room there, for
his bear and himself.

'Heaven never help me, if what I say isn't true!' said the man; 'but
we can't give any one house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve
such a pack of Trolls come down upon us, that we are forced to flit,
and haven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of
lending one to any one else.'

'Oh?' said the man, 'if that's all, you can very well lend me your
house; my bear can lie under the stove yonder, and I can sleep in the
side-room.'

Well, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so
the people of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything
was got ready for the Trolls; the tables were laid, and there was
rice porridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else
that was good, just as for any other grand feast.