and was to have a son, and he was to grow up, and was to come down to
the cellar to draw the beer, and the mallet was to fall on his head
and kill him, what a dreadful thing it would be!" "Dear, dear! what a
dreadful thing it would be!" said the mother, and she sat her down
aside of the daughter and started a-crying too. Then after a bit the
father began to wonder that they didn't come back, and he went down
into the cellar to look after them himself, and there they two sat a-
crying, and the beer running all over the floor. "Whatever is the
matter?" says he. "Why," says the mother, "look at that horrid mallet.
Just suppose, if our daughter and her sweetheart was to be married,
and was to have a son, and he was to grow up, and was to come down
into the cellar to draw the beer, and the mallet was to fall on his
head and kill him, what a dreadful thing it would be!" "Dear, dear,
dear! so it would!" said the father, and he sat himself down aside of
the other two, and started a-crying.

Now the gentleman got tired of stopping up in the kitchen by himself,
and at last he went down into the cellar too, to see what they were
after; and there they three sat a-crying side by side, and the beer
running all over the floor. And he ran straight and turned the tap.
Then he said: "Whatever are you three doing, sitting there crying, and
letting the beer run all over the floor?"

"Oh!" says the father, "look at that horrid mallet! Suppose you and
our daughter was to be married, and was to have a son, and he was to
grow up, and was to come down into the cellar to draw the beer, and
the mallet was to fall on his head and kill him!" And then they all
started a-crying worse than before. But the gentleman burst out a-
laughing, and reached up and pulled out the mallet, and then he said:
"I've travelled many miles, and I never met three such big sillies as