` Here 's a big house built since we passed this way before . ' ` So it is , ' said Peter ; ` let 's stay all night in it . ' ` No , we ca n't afford that , ' said the old people ; ` it will be too dear for the like of us . ' However , when they saw what was written above the door , they were all well pleased to get a night 's lodging for nothing . They were well received , and had so much attention given to them , that the old people were quite put out by it . After they had got time to rest themselves , the princess 's steward came to hear their story . ` You saw what was written above the door , ' he said to the father . ` Tell me who you are and what your history has been . ' ` Dear me , I have nothing of any importance to tell you , ' said the old man , ` and I am sure we should never have made so bold as to trouble you at all if it had n't been for the youngest of our two sons here . ' ` Never mind that , ' said the steward ; ` you are very welcome if you will only tell me the story of your life . ' ` Well , well , I will , ' said he , ` but there is nothing to tell about it . I and my wife have lived all our days on a moor in North Jutland , until this last year , when she took a fancy to go to Rome . We set out with our two sons but turned back long before we got there , and are now on our way home again . That 's all my own story , and our two sons have lived with us all their days , so there is nothing more to be told about them either . ' ` Yes there is , ' said Rasmus ; ` when we were on our way south , we slept in the wood near here one night , and I shot a stag . ' The steward was so much accustomed to hearing stories of no importance that he thought there was no use going further with this , but reported to the princess that the newcomers had nothing to tell . ` Did you question them all ? ' she said . ` Well , no ; not directly , ' said he ; ` but the father said that none of them could tell me any more than he had done . ' ` You are getting careless , ' said the princess ; ' I shall go and talk to them myself . '
Niels knew the princess again as soon as she entered the room , and was greatly alarmed , for he immediately supposed XXXXX all this was a device to discover the person who had run away with the sword , the slipper and the half of the handkerchief , and that it would fare badly with him if he were discovered .
After for if in near of on since that to