"Then lift the latch that I may see
Who dares to come and knock for me."
Then Ellen lifted the latch and after a moment's hesitation pushed open the door and stepped inside.
At first it seemed so dark in the cave after the brightness outside that she could see nothing, but as her eyes grew used to the gloom she saw that one end of the cave was almost filled with straw, and upon this was sitting a very large and very ugly goat.
His hair was rough and shaggy; his head was shaved and his little eyes looked at Ellen fiercely from under his curving horns.
"What do you mean by coming and disturbing me here in my cave?" he asked.
His voice was so very harsh that for a moment Ellen was rather frightened, but she remembered her pet goat at home and spoke up bravely:
"If you please, I've come to ask you whether you won't go away and find some other place to live."
"Go!" cried the goat, half rising. "Me go?"