his.

"Oh, yes!" said Hans, "but you mustn't pluck off any of its feathers!"

Just as she stroked the bird, Hans said: "If you'll come along, then
hang on!"

The woman pulled and tore, but she had to hang on, whether she would or
no, and Hans walked on, as if he only had the goose with him.

When he had gone some distance, he met a man who had a spite against the
woman for a trick she had played upon him. When he saw that she fought
so hard to get free and seemed to hang on so fast, he thought he might
safely venture to pay her off for the grudge he owed her, and so he gave
her a kick.

"If you'll come along, then hang on!" said Hans, and the man had to hang
on and limp along on one leg, whether he would or no; and when he tried
to tear himself loose, he made it still worse for himself, for he was
very nearly falling on his back whenever he struggled to get free.

So on they went till they came in the neighborhood of the palace. There
they met the king's smith; he was on his way to the smithy, and had a
large pair of tongs in his hand. This smith was a merry fellow, and was
always full of mad pranks and tricks, and when he saw this procession
coming jumping and limping along, he began laughing till he was bent in
two, but suddenly he said:

"This must be a new flock of geese for the princess: but who can tell
which is goose and which is gander? I suppose it must be the gander
toddling on in front. Goosey, goosey!" he called, and pretended to be
strewing corn out of his hands as when feeding geese.

But they did not stop. The woman and the man only looked in great rage
at the smith for making game of them. So said the smith: "It would be
great fun to see if I could stop the whole flock, many as they are!"--He
was a strong man, and seized the old man with his tongs from behind in
his trousers, and the man shouted and struggled hard, but Hans said:

"If you'll come along, then hang on!"

And so the smith had to hang on too. He bent his back and stuck his
heels in the ground when they went up a hill and tried to get away, but
it was of no use; he stuck on to the other as if he had been screwed
fast in the great vise in the smithy, and whether he liked it or not, he
had to dance along with the others.

When they came near the palace, the farm-dog ran against them and barked
at them, as if they were a gang of tramps, and when the princess came to
look out of her window to see what was the matter, and saw this
pro