The old man slept very late that morning , and rubbed his eyes till he was properly awake . Then he remembered that very soon the couple were to present themselves before him . After waiting and waiting till quite a long time had passed , he said to himself , with a grin , ` Well , they are not in much hurry to be married , ' and waited again . At last he grew a little uneasy , and cried loudly , ` Man and maid ! what has become of you ? ' After repeating this many times , he became quite frightened , but , call as he would , neither man nor maid appeared . At last he jumped angrily out of bed to go in search of the culprits , but only found an empty house , and beds that had never been slept in . Then he went straight to the stable , where the sight of the dead calf told him all . Swearing loudly , he opened the door of the third stall quickly , and cried to his goblin servants to go and chase the fugitives . ` Bring them to me , however you may find them , for have them I must ! ' he said . So spake the old man , and the servants fled like the wind . The runaways were crossing a great plain , when the maiden stopped . ` Something has happened ! ' she said . ` The ball moves in my hand , and I 'm sure we are being followed ! ' and behind them they saw a black cloud flying before the wind . Then the maiden turned the ball thrice in her hand , and cried , ` Listen to me , my ball , my ball . Be quick and change me into a brook , And my lover into a little fish . ' And in an instant there was a brook with a fish swimming in it .
The goblins arrived just after , but , seeing nobody , waited XXXXX a little , then hurried home , leaving the brook and the fish undisturbed .
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