take any longer. Yet, to his surprise, the door
which stood so widely open that he could see the colour of the
hangings within never appeared to grow any nearer, while each moment
the sun burned more hotly, and his tongue was parched with thirst.

'I don't understand! What _can_ be the matter with me--and why haven't
I reached the castle long ago?' he murmured to himself, as his knees
began to knock under him with fatigue, and his head to swim. For a few
more paces he staggered on blindly, when, suddenly, the sound of
rushing water smote upon his ears; and in a little wood that bordered
the path he beheld a stream falling over a rock. At this sight his
promise to Geirlaug was forgotten. Fighting his way through the
brambles that tore his clothes, he cast himself down beside the
fountain, and seizing the golden cup that hung from a tree, he drank a
deep draught.

When he rose up the remembrance of Geirlaug and of his past life had
vanished, and, instead, something stirred dimly within him at the
vision of the white-haired man and woman who stood in the open door
with outstretched hands.

'Grethari! Grethari! So you have come home at last,' cried they.

* * * * *

For three hours Geirlaug waited in the spot where Grethari had left
her, and then she began to understand what had happened. Her heart was
heavy, but she soon made up her mind what to do, and pushing her way
out of the wood, she skirted the high wall that enclosed the royal
park and gardens, till she reached a small house where the forester
lived with his two daughters.

'Do you want a girl to sweep, and to milk the cows?' asked she, when
one of the sisters answered her knock.

'Yes, we do, very badly; and as you look strong and clean, we will
take you for a servant if you like to come,' replied the young woman.

'But, first, what is your name?'

'Lauphertha,' said Geirlaug quickly, for she did not wish anyone to
know who she was; and following her new mistress into the house, she
begged to be taught her work without delay. And so clever was she,
that, by-and-by, it began to be noised abroad that the strange girl
who had come to live in the forester's house had not her equal in the
whole kingdom for skill as well as beauty. Thus the years slipped
away, during which Geirlaug grew to be a woman. Now and then she
caught glimpses of Grethari as he rode out to hunt in the forest, but
when she saw him coming she hid herself be