An Evening in the Squire's Kitchen. 254 __ a i i
I — had to let go his kold, ' and I should say they went off then,' said Hans, ' the boy had scarcely time to get on the sledge again, and wc burst out with such laughter, that the sheriff turned round and looked behind '" " Yes," said a tenant from a distant part of the parish, " I have heard something like that about a parson in Lier. He was once on his way to an old woman, who was on her death-bed and who had led a wicked life. When he got into the forest his horse was stopped for him ; but he knew what to do, — he was a smart fellow that Lier parson, — in one jump he was up on the back of the horse, and looked over his head between his ears, and then he saw an ugly old man, who was holding the reins. They say, it was old Nick himself.
- ' Leave go, — you sha'n't have her,' said the parson. He had to
leave go, but he gave the horse such a smart blow at the same time, that the horse started off at such a pace that the sparks flew about under his hoofs, and the boy could scarcely stick on to the sledge. That time the parson came riding on horseback to a dying parishioner." " But I don't know how it will fare with the cows, ma'am," said Mary, the dairymaid, who came toiling in with a pail of milk ; " I do believe they'll starve. Just look here, ma'am, what little milk wc get." " You must take hay from the stable, Mary," said the squire's wife. " Yes, I ought to try that ! " answered Mary ; "i£l go there, the men get as savage as wild geese." " Hl give you a good piece of advice, Mary," said one of the boys with a sly look. " You must boil cream-porridge and put it in the stable-loft every Thursday night, and you will find that the brownie helps you to carry hay to the cows, while the men are asleep." " Well, yes, if there only were any brownie here, I would do it," answered the old dairymaid quite innocently ; " but believe me, there is no brownie on this farm ; why, our master and mistress don't believe in such — no, on Næs with the captain's5 that time I served there, there was the brownie sure enough ! "
