True enough, it wasn’t long before she came up.
“Have you seen any lassie pass here, you cow?” said the old hag.
“Yes, I saw one an hour ago”, said the Cow, “but she’s far away now, for she ran so fast I don’t think you’ll ever catch her up!”
So the old hag turned round, and went back home again.
When the lassie had walked a long, long way farther on, and was not far from the hedge, she heard again that awful clatter on the road behind her, and she got scared and frightened, for she knew well enough it was the old hag and her daughter, who had changed their minds.
“Come hither to me, lassie”, said the Hedge, “and I’ll help you. Creep under my twigs, so that they can’t see you; else they’ll take the casket from you, and tear you to death.”
Yes! she made all the haste she could to get under the twigs of the hedge.
“Have you seen any lassie pass this way, you hedge?” said the old hag to the hedge.
“No, I haven’t seen any lassie”, answered the Hedge, and was as smooth-tongued as if he had got melted butter in his mouth; but all the while he spread himself out, and made himself so big and tall, one had to think twice before crossing him. And so the old witch had no help for it but to turn round and go home again.
So when the man’s daughter got home, her step-mother and her step-sister were more spiteful against her than ever; for now she was much neater, and so smart, it was a joy to look at her. Still she couldn’t get leave to live with them, but they drove her out into a pigsty. That was to be her house. So she scrubbed it out so neat and clean, and then she opened her casket, just to see what she had got for her wages. But as soon as ever she unlocked it, she saw inside so much gold and silver, and lovely things, which came streaming out till all the walls were hung with them, and at last the pigsty was far grander than the grandest king’s palace. And when the step-mother and her daughter came to see this, they almost jumped out of their skin, and began to ask what kind of a place she had down there?