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 for a little , then hurried home , leaving the brook and the fish undisturbed . When they were quite out of sight , the brook and the fish returned to their usual shapes and proceeded on their journey . When the goblins , tired and with empty hands , returned , their master inquired what they had seen , and if nothing strange had befallen them .
` Nothing , ' said they ; ` the plain was quite empty , save XXXXX a brook and a fish swimming in it . '
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