Page:Danish fairy and folk tales.djvu/344

 "Are you called Mother's Pet?" cried the troll.

"Yes, I am," was the answer.

"Did you steal my golden hand-mill and my precious lantern?"

"Sure."

"Did you also steal my hen?"

"Who else could it be?"

"Will you return?"

"Yes, when the sea becomes a mountain!" shouted the boy, merrily.

"Let us empty the sea," proposed the woman. Both knelt down, and drank with all their might until they became as thick and firm as a pair of drums. As the water in the sea rushed into their mouths with wonderful rapidity the waves rose as high as mountains, and in spite of every effort on his part the boy's trough rapidly approached the troll's mouth. But at the very moment when his large hand was stretched out to seize the frail boat both he and his wife burst. The water ran back into its cradle with such force that Mother's Pet, the trough, the hand-mill, and the lantern were pushed ashore on the other side, where the king and the princess stood watching for them. They all arrived safely, however, and there was a great joy throughout the land when the princess and Mother's Pet were married.

Mother's Pet became in time a great king. All his subjects were happy, for as the hen laid a golden egg every day there were no taxes to pay, and as