The old man went home, thinking about the hut, and how pleasant it
would be to live in it, even if his wife were a lady.

But when he got home the hut had gone, and in its place there was a
fine brick house, three stories high. There were servants running this
way and that in the courtyard. There was a cook in the kitchen, and
there was his old woman, in a dress of rich brocade, sitting idle in a
tall carved chair, and giving orders right and left.

"Good health to you, wife," says the old man.

"Ah, you, clown that you are, how dare you call me your wife! Can't
you see that I'm a lady? Here! Off with this fellow to the stables,
and see that he gets a beating he won't forget in a hurry."

Instantly the servants seized the old man by the collar and lugged him
along to the stables. There the grooms treated him to such a whipping
that he could hardly stand on his feet. After that the old woman made
him doorkeeper. She ordered that a besom should be given him to clean
up the courtyard, and said that he was to have his meals in the
kitchen. A wretched life the old man lived. All day long he was
sweeping up the courtyard, and if there was a speck of dirt to be seen
in it anywhere, he paid for it at once in the stable under the whips
of the grooms.

Time went on, and the old woman grew tired of being only a lady. And
at last there came a day when she sent into the yard to tell the old
man to come before her. The poor old man combed his hair and cleaned
his boots, and came into the house, and bowed low before the old
woman.