Invitations were sent out to the friends and relations , and when , on the morning of the great day , they were all assembled , a rough , coarse old peasant left the crowd and came up to the brides ' father . ` My name is Habogi , and Helga must be my wife , ' was all he said . And though Helga stood pale and trembling with surprise , she did not try to run away . ' I can not talk of such things just now , ' answered the father , who could not bear the thought of giving his favourite daughter to this horrible old man , and hoped , by putting it off , that something might happen . But the sisters , who had always been rather jealous of Helga , were secretly pleased that their bridegrooms should outshine hers . When the feast was over , Habogi led up a beautiful horse from a field where he had left it to graze , and bade Helga jump up on its splendid saddle , all embroidered in scarlet and gold . ` You shall come back again , ' said he ; ` but now you must see the house that you are to live in . ' And though Helga was very unwilling to go , something inside her forced her to obey . The old man settled her comfortably , then sprang up in front of her as easily as if he had been a boy , and , shaking the reins , they were soon out of sight . After some miles they rode through a meadow with grass so green that Helga 's eyes felt quite dazzled ; and feeding on the grass were a quantity of large fat sheep , with the curliest and whitest wool in the world . ` What lovely sheep ! whose are they ? ' cried Helga . ` Your Habogi 's , ' answered he , ` all that you see belongs to him ; but the finest sheep in the whole herd , which has little golden bells hanging between its horns , you shall have for yourself . ' This pleased Helga very much , for she had never had anything of her own ; and she smiled quite happily as she thanked Habogi for his present . They soon left the sheep behind them , and entered a large field with a river running through it , where a number of beautiful grey cows were standing by a gate waiting for a milk-maid to come and milk them . ` Oh , what lovely cows ! ' cried Helga again ; ' I am sure their milk must be sweeter than any other cows . How I should like to have some ! I wonder to whom they belong ? '
` To your XXXXX , ' replied he ; ` and some day you shall have as much milk as you like , but we can not stop now .
Habogi Helga bridegrooms crowd curliest house left number sisters something