Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/380



NCE on a time there was a goody who had a son called Matthew; but he was so stupid, that he had no sense for anything, nor would he do much either; and the little he did was always topsy-turvy and never right, and so they never called and him anything but "Silly Matt."

All this the goody thought bad; and it was still worse, she thought, that her son idled about and never turned his hand to anything else than yawning and stretching himself between the four walls.

Now close to where they lived ran a great river, and the stream was strong and bad to cross. So, one day, the goody said to the lad, that as there was no lack of timber there, for it grew almost up to the cottage-wall, he must cut some down and drag it to the bank and try to build a bridge over the river and take toll, and then he would both have something to do and something to live upon besides.