away in the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the
Trolls have never eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the
Dovrefell.




PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL

Once on a time there was a man who had a meadow, which lay high up on
the hill-side, and in the meadow was a barn, which he had built to
keep his hay in. Now, I must tell you, there hadn't been much in the
barn for the last year or two, for every St John's night, when the
grass stood greenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the
very ground the next morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had
been there feeding on it over night. This happened once, and it
happened twice; so at last the man grew weary of losing his crop of
hay, and said to his sons--for he had three of them, and the youngest
was nicknamed Boots, of course--that now one of them must just go and
sleep in the barn in the outlying field when St John's night came,
for it was too good a joke that his grass should be eaten, root and
blade, this year, as it had been the last two years. So whichever of
them went must keep a sharp look-out; that was what their father
said.

Well, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him
for looking after the grass! It shouldn't be his fault if man or
beast, or the fiend himself, got a blade of grass. So, when evening
came, he set off to the barn, and lay down to sleep; but a little on
in the night came such a clatter, and such an earthquake, that walls