st then struck eleven.

"It's time that you were in bed," he remarked to himself. Then he
remembered that he had not yet gone the rounds of the farm yard, as it
was his custom to do every night, to make sure that all doors were
closed and all lights extinguished. This was something he had never
neglected since he became master. He drew on his coat and went out in
the storm.

He found everything as it should be, save that the door to the empty hay
shed had been blown open by the wind. He stepped inside for the key,
locked the shed door and put the key into his coat pocket. Then he went
back to the house, removed his coat, and hung it before the fire. Even
now he did not retire, but began pacing the floor. The storm without,
with its biting wind and snow-blended rain, was terrible, and his old
horse was standing in this storm without so much as a blanket to protect
him! He should at least have given his old friend a roof over his head,
since he had come such a long distance.

At the inn across the way the boy heard an old wall clock strike eleven
times. Just then he was untying the animals to lead them to the shed in
the farm yard opposite. It took some time to rouse them and get them
into line. When all were ready, they marched in a long procession into
the stingy farmer's yard, with the boy as their guide. While the boy had
been assembling them, the farmer had gone the rounds of the farm yard
and locked the hay shed, so that when the animals came along the door
was closed. The boy stood there dismayed. He could not let the creatures
stand out there! He must go into the house and find the key.

"Keep them quiet out here while I go in and fetch the key!" he said to
the old horse, and off he ran.

On the path right in front of the house he paused to think out how he
should get inside. As he stood there he noticed two little wanderers
coming down the road, who stopped before the inn.

The boy saw at once that they were two little girls, and ran toward
them.

"Come now, Britta Maja!" said one, "you mustn't cry any more. Now we are
at the inn. Here they will surely take us in."

The girl had but just said this when the boy called to her:

"No, you mustn't try to get in there. It is simply impossible. But at
the farm house opposite there are no guests. Go there instead."

The little girls heard the words distinctly, though they could not see
the one who spoke to them. They did not wonder much at that, however,
for