` Oh , luckless being ! ' sighed the girl ; ` how will you ever get through with it . The white horse , who is our master 's grandmother , is always hungry : it takes twenty men always mowing to keep it in food for one day , and another twenty to clean out its stall . How , then , do you expect to do it all by yourself ? But listen to me , and do what I tell you . It is your only chance . When you have filled the manger as full as it will hold you must weave a strong plait of the rushes which grow among the meadow hay , and cut a thick peg of stout wood , and be sure that the horse sees what you are doing . Then it will ask you what it is for , and you will say , ` With this plait I intend to bind up your mouth so that you can not eat any more , and with this peg I am going to keep you still in one spot , so that you can not scatter your corn and water all over the place ! ' After these words the maiden went away as softly as she had come . Early the next morning he set to work . His scythe danced through the grass much more easily than he had hoped , and soon he had enough to fill the manger . He put it in the crib , and returned with a second supply , when to his horror he found the crib empty . Then he knew that without the maiden 's advice he would certainly have been lost , and began to put it into practice . He took out the rushes which had somehow got mixed up with the hay , and plaited them quickly . ` My son , what are you doing ? ' asked the horse wonderingly . ` Oh , nothing ! ' replied he . ` Just weaving a chin strap to bind your jaws together , in case you might wish to eat any more ! ' The white horse sighed deeply when it heard this , and made up its mind to be content with what it had eaten .
The youth next began to clean out the stall , and the horse knew it had found a master ; and XXXXX mid-day there was still fodder in the manger , and the place was as clean as a new pin .
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