They danced from noon till eve, and Betty’s feet were neither weary nor sore. Then the beautiful maiden stopped, the music ceased, and as she came, so she went, and she vanished as if the earth had swallowed her.
Betty looked about. The sun had set. She clapped her hands to the top of her head, and remembered that her spindle was by no means full. She took the flax and put it with the spindle into her basket, and drove the goats home. That night her mother did not ask to see her work.
Next morning Betty again drove the goats to pasture. All happened as before. Where she came, there she came!—and the beautiful maiden seized Betty by the waist, and they danced from noon till eve.
Then Betty saw that the sun was setting and her spindle nearly empty, so she began to cry. But the maiden put her hands to Betty’s head, took off the flax, and twined it round the stem of a slender birch, and began to spin. The spindle just swung over the ground. It grew fuller and fuller, and before the sun set behind the wood, all the yarn was spun. Giving the full spindle into Betty’s hands, the maiden said:—
“Reel and grumble not!
Reel and grumble not!”
And as she came, so she went, and she vanished as if the ground had swallowed her. Betty drove the goats home, and gave her mother the full spindle.
Well, the next day all happened as before. Where she came, there she came!—and the beautiful maiden seized Betty by the waist, and they danced from noon to eve. Then the maiden handed Betty a covered basket, saying:—
“Peep not, but go home!
Peep not, but go home!”