Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/387

Rh off from the farm; and when he had gone a bit on the way, he met a bridal train. So he stood still when he had got well up to the bride and bridegroom, and clapped his hands, and said, "Huf! huf! you jade of a she-wolf!" After that he went home to his mother, and said—

"I did as you bade me, mother; but I got a good thrashing for it, that I did."

"What was it you did?" she asked.

"Oh, I clapped my hands and called out, 'Huf! huf! you jade of a she-wolf!

"And what was it you met?"

"I met a bridal train."

"Ah! you are a fool, and always will be a fool," said his mother. "Why should you say such things to a bridal train? You should have said, 'Ride happily, bride and bridegroom.

"Well, well! see if I don't say so next time," said the lad, and off he went again.

So he met a bear, who was taking a ride on a horse, and Matt waited till he came alongside him, and then he said, "A happy ride to you, bride and bridegroom," and then he went back to his mother, and told her how he had said what she bade him.

"And pray, what was it you said?" she asked.

"I said, 'A happy ride to you both, bride and bridegroom.

"And whom did you meet?"

"I met a bear taking a ride on a horse," said Matt.

"My goodness! what a fool you are," said his mother. "You ought to have said, 'To the de'il with you.' That's what you ought to have said."