rs to fetch it back."

Then said Fred,

"It was very wrong of you, Kate, to waste the butter, and roll the
cheeses down the hill."

And Kate answered, "Well then, you should have told me so."

As they were eating the dry bread together, Fred said,

"Kate, did you lock up the house before leaving?"

"No, Fred; you ought to have told me that before."

And her husband answered,

"Well, you must go home at once and lock up the house before we go any
farther, and you might as well bring something more to eat with you, and
I will wait for you here."

So Kate went, and she thought to herself,

"As Fred wants something more to eat, and he does not care much about
butter and cheese, I will bring some dried apples and a jug of vinegar
back with me."

Then she bolted the front door, but the back door she took off its
hinges, and lifted it on her shoulders, thinking that if she had the
door all safe no harm could come to the house. And she took her time on
the way back, and thought to herself, "Fred will have so much the longer
to rest." So when she got back to him, she called out,

"Fred, if the house-door is safe, no harm can come to the house!"

"Oh dear!" cried he, "what a prudent wife have I! to carry away the
back-door, so that any one may get in, and to bolt the front door! It is
too late now to go home, but as you have brought the door so far, you
may carry it on farther."

"All right, I will carry the door, Fred," said she, "but the dried
apples and the vinegar will be too heavy for me; I will hang them on the
door and make it carry them."

Now they went into the wood to look for the thieves, but they could not
find them. When it grew dark they got up into a tree to pass the night
there. No sooner had they settled down when up came the pedlars, some of
those fellows who carry away what should not go with them, and who find
things before they are lost. They laid themselves down directly under
the tree where Fred and Kate were, and they made a fire, and began to
divide their spoil. Then Fred got down on the farther side of the tree
and gathered together some stones, and then got up again, intending to
stone the robbers to death with them. The stones, however, did not hit
them, and they said,

"It will soon be morning; the wind is rising and shaking down the
fir-cones."

Now all the time Kate had the door on her shoulder, and as it weighed
upon her heavily, she thought it must be the dried apples, and sh