you are! When I come
to think of it, what could I have done with a hog? The neighbors would
have pointed us out and have said, "Look at those people--all they make
they eat! But, with a she-goat, I shall have milk and cheese, not to
speak of the little kids. Come, let us put her into the stable."

'I didn't bring the she-goat with me, either,' said Gudbrand; 'I traded
her again, for a ewe.'

'There! That's just like you,' exclaimed the wife, with evident
satisfaction. 'It was for my sake that you did that. Am I young enough
to scamper, over hill and dale, after a she-goat? No, indeed. But, a ewe
will yield me her wool as well as her milk; so let us get her housed at
once.'

'I didn't bring the ewe home, either,' stammered Gudbrand, once more,
'but swapped her for a goose.'

'What? a goose! oh! thanks, thanks a thousand times, with all my
heart--for, after all, how could I have got along with the ewe? I have
neither card nor comb, and spinning is a heavy job, at best. When you've
spun, too, you have to cut and fit and sew. It's far easier to buy our
clothes ready-made, as we've always done. But a goose--a fat one, too,
no doubt--why, that's the very thing I want! I've need of down for our
quilt, and my mouth has watered this many a day for a bit of roast
goose. Put the bird in the poultry-coop.'

'Ah! I've not brought the goose, for I took a rooster in his stead.'

'Good husband!' said the wife, 'you're wiser than I would have been. A
rooster! splendid!--why, a rooster's better than an eight-day clock. The
rooster will crow every morning, at four, and tell us when it is time to
pray to God and set about our work. What would we have done with a
goose? I don't know how to cook one, and as for the quilt, Heaven be
praised, there's no lack of moss a great deal softer than down. So, let
us put the rooster in the corn-yard!'

'I have not brought even the rooster,' murmured Gudbrand, 'for, at
sundown, I felt very hungry, and had to sell my rooster for a shilling
to buy something to eat. If it hadn't been for that I must have starved
to death.'

'God be thanked for giving you that lucky thought,' replied the wife.
'All that you do, Gudbrand, is just after my own heart. What need we of
a rooster? We are our own masters, I think; there is no one to give us
orders, and we can stay in bed just as long as we please. Here you are,
my dear husband, safe and sound. I am perfectly satisfied, and have need
of nothing more than