MOTHER'S PET
turned. Mother's Pet was at once made a baronet.
But in a few days he decided to return for the hand-mill and the lantern.
Having reached the troll's house safe and sound, he hid among the trees in the garden until midnight, when he again ascended to the house armed with a heavy club. When he opened the trap-door he could hear the troll and his wife snoring so loudly that every door and window rattled. Now Mother's Pet reached through the opening with his club, and let it fall exactly on the troll's large nose. He awoke immediately, kicked his wife far out on the floor, and asked what she meant by breaking his nasal bone. The woman protested, but in vain; her husband insisted that she had intended to murder him. They very soon came to blows, and while they tumbled out of the door to fight, Mother's Pet stole through the opening, seized the hand-mill and the lantern, which stood on a table near the bed, rushed out of the door, and made for his boat with all possible speed.
The troll's wife noticed the light which issued from the golden lantern, and shouted to her husband, who was beating her violently with the heavy club, "You had better look after our treasures! Some one is running away with them!" They both pursued the boy, but he had already reached his kneading-trough, and was far from the shore when they reached it.
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