There on the bridge stood the great Billy Goat Gruff with his feet firmly planted on the boards and his head lowered, and as soon as the Troll came near—rush, scamper—the Goat tossed the Troll so high with his horns that no one has ever seen a Troll under a bridge from that day to this.
Then the great Billy Goat Gruff went on to the hillside, and the three Billy Goats ate, and ate, and made themselves so fat that they could scarcely walk home again.
THE HOBYAHS.
Once upon a time there lived a little old man and a little old woman in a house all made of hemp stalks. And they had a little dog named Turpie who always barked when any one came near the house.
One night when the little old man and the little old woman were fast asleep, creep, creep, through the woods came the Hobyahs, skipping along on the tips of their toes.
“Tear down the hemp stalks. Eat up the little old man, and carry away the little old woman,” cried the Hobyahs.
Then little dog Turpie ran out, barking loudly, and he frightened the Hobyahs so that they ran away home again. But the little old man woke from his dreams, and he said:
“Little dog Turpie barks so loudly that I can neither slumber nor sleep. In the morning I will take off his tail.”