DANISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES
men took shelter under one of the leaves. After a while one of them thrust his knife through it, to see if the rain was over; but so much water had been collected on the surface that it poured down immediately in such quantities that every carpenter was drowned."
"That cabbage must have been large, indeed!" remarked the princess.
The young man was, however, not so easily disposed of. "You have a good-sized barn," remarked he, "and well built, too."
"Yes," replied the princess, "but my father is the king, you know, and so it could not be smaller."
"True enough," continued Claus, "but our barn is so immense that while a cow walks through it from one end to the other she may become old and worn out."
"A large barn, indeed!" observed the young lady.
Claus appeared unaffected. "Your sheep," he pursued, "seem to be large and well kept, but my father's sheep are larger yet. Their tails are so heavy that we are obliged to tie them to big wagons, and when we want some meat for a soup, all that we need is to go and cut off a piece of one of these tails. Then we have enough for several hundred persons. When they are sheared, we hire sixteen wood-cutters to cut off the wool with their axes. Each animal keeps them working for eight days."
"Fine sheep they must be, I am sure!" remarked the princess.
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