Fairyfoot went towards the hut, driving the swine before him, and
suddenly he saw the swineherd come out of his house, and stand staring
stupidly at the pigs. He was a very coarse, hideous man, with bristling
yellow hair, and little eyes, and a face rather like a pig's, and he
always looked stupid, but just now he looked more stupid than ever. He
seemed dumb with surprise.

"What's the matter with the swine?" he asked in his hoarse voice, which
was rather piglike, too.

"I don't know," answered Fairyfoot, feeling a little alarmed. "What _is_
the matter with them?"

"They are four times fatter, and five times bigger, and six times
cleaner, and seven times heavier, and eight times handsomer than they
were when you took them out," the swineherd said.

"I've done nothing to them," said Fairyfoot. "They ran away, but they
came back again."

The swineherd went lumbering back into the hut, and called his wife.

"Come and look at the swine," he said.

And then the woman came out, and stared first at the swine and then at
Fairyfoot.

"He has been with the fairies," she said at last to her husband; "or it
is because he is a king's son. We must treat him better if he can do
wonders like that."