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