ung man who was
seeking a wife, and of all the maidens round about none pleased him as
well as the only daughter of a farmer. The girl was willing and the
father was willing, and very soon they were married and went to live at
the farm. By and bye the season came when they must cut the peats and
pile them up to dry, so that they might have fires in the winter. So on
a fine day the girl and her husband, and the father and his wife all
went out upon the moor.

They worked hard for many hours, and at length grew hungry, so the young
woman was sent home to bring them food, and also to give the horses
their dinner. When she went into the stable, she suddenly saw the heavy
pack-saddle of the speckled mare just over her head, and she jumped and
said to herself:

'Suppose that pack-saddle were to fall and kill me, how dreadful it
would be!' and she sat down just under the pack-saddle she was so much
afraid of, and began to cry.

* * * * *

Now the others out on the moor grew hungrier and hungrier.

'What _can_ have become of her?' asked they, and at length the mother
declared that she would wait no longer, and must go and see what had
happened.

As the bride was nowhere in the kitchen or the dairy, the old woman
went into the stable, where she found her daughter weeping bitterly.

'What is the matter, my dove?' and the girl answered, between her sobs:

'When I came in and saw the pack-saddle over my head, I thought how
dreadful it would be if it fell and killed me,' and she cried louder
than before.

The old woman struck her hands together: 'Ah, to think of it! If that
were to be, what should I do?' and she sat down by her daughter, and
they both wrung their hands and let their tears flow.

* * * * *

'Something strange must have occurred,' exclaimed the old farmer on the
moor, who by this time was not only hungry, but cross. 'I must go after
them.' And he went and found them in the stable.

'What is the matter?' asked he.

'Oh!' replied his wife, 'when our daughter came home, did she not see
the pack-saddle over her head, and she thought how dreadful it would be
if it were to fall and kill her.'

'Ah, to think of it!' exclaimed he, striking his hands together, and he
sat down beside them and wept too.

As soon as night fell the young man returned full of hunger, and there
they were, all crying together in the stable.

'What is the matter?' asked