r-maid.

"Oh! yes; so far as that is concerned, I am not ill off," said the
sheriff. So now he had to go home to get the money, and in the evening
he came back, bringing with him a bag with two bushels in it, which he
set down on the bench. Well, as he had such a fine lot of money, the
Master-maid said she would have him, so they sat down to talk.

But scarcely had they sat down together before the Master-maid wanted to
jump up again. "I have forgotten to see to the fire," she said.

"Why should you jump up to do that?" said the sheriff; "I will do that!"
So he jumped up, and went to the chimney in one bound.

"Just tell me when you have got hold of the shovel," said the
Master-maid.

"Well, I have hold of it now," said the sheriff.

"Then you may hold the shovel, and the shovel you, and pour red-hot
coals over you, till day dawns," said the Master-maid. So the sheriff
had to stand there the whole night and pour red-hot coals over himself,
and, no matter how much he cried and begged and entreated, the red-hot
coals did not grow the colder for that. When the day began to dawn, and
he had power to throw down the shovel, he did not stay long where he
was, but ran away as fast as he possibly could; and everyone who met him
stared and looked after him, for he was flying as if he were mad, and he
could not have looked worse if he had been both flayed and tanned, and
everyone wondered where he had been, but for very shame he would tell
nothing.

The next day the attorney came riding by the place where the Master-maid
dwelt. He saw how brightly the hut shone and gleamed through the wood,
and he too went into it to see who lived there, and when he entered and
saw the beautiful young maiden he fell even more in love with her than
the sheriff had done, and began to woo her at once. So the Master-maid
asked him, as she had asked the sheriff, if he had a great deal of
money, and the attorney said he was not ill off for that, and would at
once go home to get it; and at night he came with a great big sack of
money--this time it was a four-bushel sack--and set it on the bench by
the Master-maid. So she promised to have him, and he sat down on the
bench by her to arrange about it, but suddenly she said that she had
forgotten to lock the door of the porch that night, and must do it.

"Why should you do that?" said the attorney; "sit still, I will do it."

So he was on his feet in a moment, and out in the porch.

"Tell me when