`` Well , if it gets no worse than that , I can manage to stand it , '' thought Cinderlad . In a little time the creaking began again , and the earth quaked so that all the hay flew about the boy . `` Oh ! if it gets no worse than that I can manage to stand it , '' thought Cinderlad . But then came a third rumbling , and a third earthquake , so violent that the boy thought the walls and roof had fallen down , but when that was over everything suddenly grew as still as death around him . `` I am pretty sure that it will come again , '' thought Cinderlad ; but no , it did not . Everything was quiet , and everything stayed quiet , and when he had lain still a short time he heard something that sounded as if a horse were standing chewing just outside the barn door . He stole away to the door , which was ajar , to see what was there , and a horse was standing eating . It was so big , and fat , and fine a horse that Cinderlad had never seen one like it before , and a saddle and bridle lay upon it , and a complete suit of armor for a knight , and everything was of copper , and so bright that it shone again . `` Ha , ha ! it is thou who eatest up our hay then , '' thought the boy ; `` but I will stop that . '' So he made haste , and took out his steel for striking fire , and threw it over the horse , and then it had no power to stir from the spot , and became so tame that the boy could do what he liked with it . So he mounted it and rode away to a place which no one knew of but himself , and there he tied it up . When he went home again his brothers laughed and asked how he had got on . `` You did n't lie long in the barn , if even you have been so far as the field ! '' said they . `` I lay in the barn till the sun rose , but I saw nothing and heard nothing , not I , '' said the boy . `` God knows what there was to make you two so frightened . '' `` Well , we shall soon see whether you have watched the meadow or not , '' answered the brothers , but when they got there the grass was all standing just as long and as thick as it had been the night before . The next St. John 's eve it was the same thing , once again : neither of the two brothers dared to go to the outlying field to watch the crop , but Cinderlad went , and everything happened exactly the same as on the previous St. John 's eve : first there was a rumbling and an earthquake , and then there was another , and then a third : but all three earthquakes were much , very much more violent than they had been the year before .
Then everything became still as death again , and the boy heard something chewing outside the barn door , so he stole XXXXX softly as he could to the door , which was slightly ajar , and again there was a horse standing close by the wall of the house , eating and chewing , and it was far larger and fatter than the first horse , and it had a saddle on its back , and a bridle was on it too , and a full suit of armor for a knight , all of bright silver , and as beautiful as anyone could wish to see .
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