said she; "I have been forced to give my brightest silver skilling.
Does Mr. Thostrup know the old custom which is observed here in the
country, when beer is brewed for the mowing-feast?"

A piercing cry, as from a horde of savages, at this moment reached
the ears of the party.

The friends descended.

In the middle of the brew-house stood a tub, around which danced
all the female servants of the estate, from the dairymaids down to
the girl who tended the swine; their iron-bound wooden shoes dashed
against the uneven flag-stones. The greater number of the dancers
were without their jackets, but with their long chemise-sleeves and
narrow bodices. Some screamed, others laughed, the whole was
blended together in a howl, whilst they danced hand in hand around
the tub in which the beer should be brewed. The brewing-maid now
flung into it the silver skilling, upon which the girls, like wild
Maenades, tore off each other's caps, and with bacchanalian
wildness whirled round the tub. By this means should the beer
become stronger, and work more intoxicatingly at the approaching
mowing-feast.

Among the girls, one especially distinguished herself by her Strong
frame of body, and her long black hair, which, now that her cap was
torn off, hung in disorder over her red face. The dark eyebrows
were grown together. All seemed to rage most violently within her,
and in truth she assumed something wild, nay almost brutal. Both
arms she raised high in the air, and with outstretched fingers she
whirled around.