` You have beaten me , ' she gasped , so now , listen to me . ` Not far from here is a lake . Go there ; you will find a little girl playing with a boat . Try to make friends with her , and give her this little gold ring . You are stronger than ever you were , and I wish you good luck . ' With these words they took leave of each other , and Sigurd wandered on till he reached the lake , where he found the little girl playing with a boat , just as he had been told . He went up to her and asked what her name was . She was called Helga , she answered , and she lived near by . So Sigurd gave her the little gold ring , and proposed that they should have a game . The little girl was delighted , for she had no brothers or sisters , and they played together all the rest of the day . When evening came Sigurd asked leave to go home with her , but Helga at first forbade him , as no stranger had ever managed to enter their house without being found out by her father , who was a very fierce giant . However , Sigurd persisted , and at length she gave way ; but when they came near the door she held her glove over him and Sigurd was at once transformed into a bundle of wool . Helga tucked the bundle under her arm and threw it on the bed in her room . Almost at the same moment her father rushed in and hunted round in every corner , crying out : ` This place smells of men . What 's that you threw on the bed , Helga ? ' ' A bundle of wool , ' said she . ` Oh , well , perhaps it was that I smelt , ' said the old man , and troubled himself no more . The following day Helga went out to play and took the bundle of wool with her under her arm . When she reached the lake she held her glove over it again and Sigurd resumed his own shape . They played the whole day , and Sigurd taught Helga all sorts of games she had never even heard of .
As they walked home in the evening she said : ` We shall be able to play better still to-morrow , XXXXX my father will have to go to the town , so we can stay at home . '
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