It happened at last that the farm-house passed into the hands of a new owner, who refused to put any faith in what they told him about the mare, so the luck speedily left the place, and went after the mare to a poor neighbour who had bought her.  Within five days after his purchase, the poor farmer began to find his circumstances gradually improving, while the income of the other, day after day, fell away and diminished at such a rate that he was hard set to make both ends meet.

If now the man who had got the mare had only known how to be quiet and enjoy the good times that were come upon him, he and his children and his children’s children after him would have been in flourishing circumstances till this very day.  But when he saw the quantity of corn that came every night to his barn, he could not resist his desire to get a sight of the Nis.  So he concealed himself one evening at nightfall in the stable, and as soon as it was midnight he saw how the Nis came from his neighbour’s barn and brought a sack full of corn with him.  It was now unavoidable that the Nis should get a sight of the man who was watching, so he, with evident marks of grief, gave the mare her food for the last time, cleaned and dressed her to the best of his ability, and when he had done, turned round to where the man was lying, and bid him farewell.

From that day forward the circumstances of both the neighbours were on an equality, for each now kept his own.

THE DWARFS’ BANQUET.

There lived in Norway, not far from the city of Drontheim, a powerful man who was blessed with all the goods of fortune.  A part of the surrounding country was his property, numerous herds fed on his pastures, and a great retinue and a crowd of servants adorned his mansion.  He had an only daughter, called Aslog, the fame of whose beauty spread far and wide.  The greatest men of the country sought her, but all were alike unsuccessful in their suit, and he who had come full of confidence and joy, rode away home silent and melancholy.  Her father, who thought his daughter delayed her choice only to select, forbore to interfere, and exulted in her prudence, but when at length the richest and noblest tried their fortune with as little success as the rest, he grew angry and called his daughter, and said to her—­

“Hitherto I have left you to your free choice, but since I see that you reject all without any distinction, and the very best of your suitors seems not good enough for you, I will keep measures no longer with you.  What! shall my family become extinct, and my inheritance pass away into the hands of strangers?  I will break your stubborn spirit.  I give you now till the festival of the great winter-night.  Make your choice by that time, or prepare to accept him whom I shall fix on.”

Aslog loved a youth named Orm, handsome as he was brave and noble.  She loved him with her whole soul, and she would sooner die than bestow her hand on another.  But Orm was poor, and poverty compelled him to serve in the mansion of her father.  Aslog’s partiality for him was kept a secret, for her father’s pride of power and wealth was such that he would never have given his consent to a union with so humble a man.