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 AN EVEtflttG Ut THE SQUIRE^S kITCIIEN. 265 when they had iefi the dairy he dressed himself in full uniform, prut the dragoon-saddle on his horse, and the pistols in the holsters, arid off he started- When he came in sight of the dairy, it was all ablaze with light, and he guessed then that the huldre people had come already. So he tied his horse to the stump of a pine-trée, took one of the pistols with him, and stole quietly up to the window and looked in, In the room sat an old man and an old woman, who were so crooked and so wrinkled with age, and so dreadfully ugly, that he had never seen anything so hideous in his life ; but then there was a lass who was so lovely that he thought he could not live if he did not make her his own. They had all cow's tails, the lovely lass as well. He could see that they had only lately arrived, for the room appeared to have been very lately put in order. The lass was busy washing the ugly old man, while the woman was lighting a fire under the big cheese-kettle oo the hearth. " All of a sudden the dragoon pushed the door open, and fired his pistol right over the head of the lassie, which sent her rolling over on to the floor. But at the same moment she turned just as ugly as she had beer beautiful before, and her nose grew as long as the pistol. H'Youcantakehernow; sheisyoursnow!'saidtheoldman. But the dragoon was almost spell-bound ; he remained standing on the same spot and could not move a step either forwards or back wards. The old man began to wash the lass, and she looked a little better after that, the nose decreased to about half the size, and the ug!y cow's tail was tied up, but it would be a sin to say she was anything like pretty. " • She is yours now, my brave dragoon ! Put her in front of you on the pommel of the saddle, and ride through the parish with her and celebrate your wedding. For us two, you can prepare some thing in the small chamber in the wash-house, for wc don't care to mix with the other wedding-guests,' said the old ugly one, who was the father of the lass ; ' but when the loving cup is pasning Found you may as well look In on us/ • He dared not do otherwise j he took the laastc with him ori the