d.

"The child is very dear to me," he said, "therefore I give it to
you, for you are good people."

They had no children of their own, so that it seemed very fitting
for them to take it. They accepted it too without hesitation. They
thought it would be to their advantage to bring up a peasant's
child, besides which they expected to be cheered in their old age
by their foster-son.

But the child did not live to grow up with them. Before the year
was out it was dead. It was said by many that it was the fault of
the foster-parents, for the child had been unusually strong before
it came to them. By that no one meant, however, that they had
killed it intentionally, but rather that they had undertaken
something beyond their powers. They had not had sense or love
enough to give it the care it needed. They were accustomed only to
think of themselves and to look out for themselves. They had no
time to care for a child. They wished to go together to their work
every day and to sleep a quiet sleep at night. They thought that
the child drank too much of their good milk and did not allow him
as much as themselves. They had no idea that they were treating the
boy badly. They thought that they were just as tender to him as
parents generally are. It seemed more to them as if their
foster-son had been a punishment and a torment. They did not mourn
him when he died.

Women usually enjoy nothing better than to take care of a child;
but Jofrid had a husband, whom she often had to care for like a
mother, so that she desired no one else. They also love to see
their children's quick growth; but Jofrid had pleasure enough in
watching Toenne develop sense and manliness, in adorning and taking
care of her house, in the increase of their flocks, and in the
crops which they were raising below on the moor.

Jofrid went to the peasant's farm and told him that the child was
dead. Then the man said: "I am like the man who puts cushions in
his bed so soft that he sinks down to the hard bottom. I wished to
care too well for my son, and look, now he is dead!" And he was
heart-broken.

At his words Jofrid began to weep bitterly. "Would to God that you
had not left your son with us!" she said. "We were too poor. He
could not get what he needed with us."

"That is not what I meant," answered the peasant. "I believe that
you have over-indulged the child. But I will not accuse any one,
for over life and death God alone rules. Now I mean to celebra