So he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the cow off the housetop after all, and as she fell she dragged the man up the chimney, by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow, she hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth, for she could neither get down nor up.
And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her husband to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they had. At last she thought she'd waited long enough, and went home. But when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she ran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But as she did this, down came her husband out of the chimney; and so when his old dame came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in the porridge-pot.
Once on a time there was an old wife who sat and baked. Now you must know that this old wife had a little son, who was so plump and fat, and so fond of good things, that they called him Buttercup; she had a dog, too, whose name was Goldtooth, and as she was baking, all at once Goldtooth began to bark.
"Run out, Buttercup, there's a dear!" said the old wife, "and see what Goldtooth is barking at."
So the boy ran out, and came back crying out,--
"Oh, Heaven help us! here comes a great big witch, with her head under her arm, and a bag at her back."
"Jump under the kneading-trough and hide yourself," said his mother.
"God bless you!" said Buttercup's mother.
"Isn't your Buttercup at home to-day?" asked the hag.
"No, that he isn't. He's out in the wood with his father, shooting grouse."
"Plague take it," said the hag, "for I had such a nice little silver knife I wanted to give him."
"Pip, pip! here I am," said Buttercup under the kneading-trough, and out he came.
"I'm so old and stiff in the back," said the hag, "you must creep into the bag and fetch it out for yourself."
But when Buttercup was well into the bag, the hag threw it over her back and strode off, and when they had gone a good bit of the way, the old hag got tired and asked,
So the hag put down the sack on the road, and went aside by herself into the wood, and lay down to sleep. Meantime Buttercup set to work and cut a hole in the sack with his knife; then he crept out and put a great root of a fir-tree into the sack, and ran home to his mother.