While the boy had
been assembling them, the farmer had gone the rounds of the farm yard
and locked the hay shed, so that when the animals came along the door
was closed. The boy stood there dismayed. He could not let the creatures
stand out there! He must go into the house and find the key.
"Keep them quiet out here while I go in and fetch the key!" he said to
the old horse, and off he ran.
On the path right in front of the house he paused to think out how he
should get inside. As he stood there he noticed two little wanderers
coming down the road, who stopped before the inn.
The boy saw at once that they were two little girls, and ran toward
them.
"Come now, Britta Maja!" said one, "you mustn't cry any more. Now we are
at the inn. Here they will surely take us in."
The girl had but just said this when the boy called to her:
"No, you mustn't try to get in there. It is simply impossible. But at
the farm house opposite there are no guests. Go there instead."
The little girls heard the words distinctly, though they could not see
the one who spoke to them. They did not wonder much at that, however,
for the night was as black as pitch. The larger of the girls promptly
answered:
"We don't care to enter that place, because those who live there are
stingy and cruel. It is their fault that we two must go out on the
highways and beg.
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