Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/274

252 "Just like my house, my love," said her sweetheart.

"So I went into the kitchen, but I saw no living soul, and from the roof hung a strange bird in a cage, and as I passed on into the parlour it called after me, 'Pretty maiden! be bold, but not too bold.

"Just like my house that too, my love," said her sweetheart.

"So I passed on into a bedroom, and the bird bawled after me the same words, and in there were so many chests of drawers, and when I pulled the drawers out and looked into them, they were filled with gold and silver stuffs, and everything that was grand."

"That is just like it is at my house, my love," said her sweetheart. "I, too, have many drawers full of gold and silver and costly things."

"So I went on into another bedroom, and the bird screeched out to me the very same words; and that room was all hung round on the wall with fine dresses of women."

"Yes; that, too, is just as it is in my house," he said; "there are dresses and finery there, both of silk and satin."

"Well, when I passed on to the next bedroom, the bird began to screech and scream—'Pretty maiden! pretty maiden! be bold, but not too bold;' and in this room were casks and pails all around the walls, and they were full of blood."

"Fie!" said her sweetheart, "how nasty! It isn't at all like that in my house, my love;" for now he began to grow uneasy and wished to be off.

"Why," said the daughter, "it's only a dream, you