greenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the very ground the
next morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had been there feeding
on it over night. This happened once, and it happened twice; so at last
the man grew weary of losing his crop of hay, and said to his sons--for
he had three of them, and the youngest was nicknamed Boots, of
course--that now one of them must just go and sleep in the barn in the
outlying field when St. John's night came, for it was no joke that his
grass should be eaten, root and blade, this year, as it had been the
last two years. So whichever of them went must keep a sharp look-out;
that was what their father said.

Well, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him for
looking after the grass. So, when evening came, he set off to the barn,
and lay down to sleep. But a little on in the night came such a clatter,
and such an earthquake, that walls and roof shook, and groaned, and
creaked. Then up jumped the lad, and took to his heels as fast as ever
he could; nor dared he once look around until he reached home; and as
for the hay, why it was eaten up this year just as it had been twice
before.

The next St. John's night, the man said again it would never do to lose
all the grass in the outlying field year after year in this way, so one
of his sons must just trudge off to watch it, and watch it well too.
Well, the next oldest son was ready to try his luck, so he set off and
sat down to watch in the barn as his brother had done before him. But as
the night wore on, there came on a rumbling and quaking of the earth,
worse even than on the last St. John's night, and when the lad heard it,
he got frightened, and took to his heels as though he were running a
race.