beware of uttering in my presence the name of him whom no giant may hear
of, and never venture to make the sign of the cross, or to cut it on
beam or on board of the house. You may dwell in this house the whole
year long, only be so good as to give it up to me on Yule evening, when
the sun is at the lowest, as then we celebrate our great festival, and
then only are we permitted to be merry. At least, if you should not be
willing to go out of the house, keep yourselves up in the loft as quiet
as possible the whole day long, and, as you value your lives, do not
look down into the room until midnight is past. After that you may take
possession of everything again."

When the old woman had thus spoken she vanished, and Aslog and Orm, now
at ease respecting their situation, lived, without any disturbance,
content and happy. Orm never made a cast of his net without getting a
plentiful draught. He never shot an arrow from his bow that missed its
aim. In short, whatever they took in hand, were it ever so trifling,
evidently prospered.

When Christmas came, they cleaned up the house in the best manner, set
everything in order, kindled a fire on the hearth, and, as the twilight
approached, they went up to the loft, where they remained quiet and
still. At length it grew dark. They thought they heard a sound of flying
and labouring in the air, such as the swans make in the winter-time.
There was a hole in the roof over the fire-place which might be opened
or shut either to let in the light from above or to afford a free
passage for the smoke. Orm lifted up the lid, which was covered with a
skin, and put out his head, but what a wonderful sight then presented
itself to his eyes! The little islands around were all lit up with
countless blue lights, which moved about without ceasing, jumped up and
down, then skipped down to the shore, assembled together, and now came