第233页 / 共626页

'It is rather dark,' said he; 'they forgot to build windows in

this room to let the sun in; a candle would be no bad thing.'

Though he made the best of his bad luck, he did not like his

quarters at all; and the worst of it was, that more and more hay

was always coming down, and the space left for him became smaller

and smaller. At last he cried out as loud as he could, 'Don't

bring me any more hay! Don't bring me any more hay!'

The maid happened to be just then milking the cow; and hearing

someone speak, but seeing nobody, and yet being quite sure it was

the same voice that she had heard in the night, she was so

frightened that she fell off her stool, and overset the

milk-pail. As soon as she could pick herself up out of the dirt,

she ran off as fast as she could to her master the parson, and

said, 'Sir, sir, the cow is talking!' But the parson said,

'Woman, thou art surely mad!' However, he went with her into the

cow-house, to try and see what was the matter.