` What is the matter , young man ? ' asked he . ` Oh , my friend , there is plenty the matter , ' answered Peter . ' I have gained a nut as my wages , and when I cracked it this crowd of beasts came out , and I do n't know what to do with them all ! ' ` Listen to me , my son , ' said Eisenkopf . ` If you will promise never to marry I will drive them all back into the nut again . ' In his trouble Peter would have promised far harder things than this , so he gladly gave the promise Eisenkopf asked for ; and at a whistle from the stranger the animals all began crowding into the nut again , nearly tumbling over each other in their haste . When the last foot had got inside , the two halves of the shell shut close . Then Peter put it in his pocket and went on to the house . No sooner had he reached it than he cracked his nut for the second time , and out came the horses , sheep , and oxen again . Indeed Peter thought that there were even more of them than before . The old man could not believe his eyes when he saw the multitudes of horses , oxen and sheep standing before his door . ` How did you come by all these ? ' he gasped , as soon as he could speak ; and the son told him the whole story , and of the promise he had given Eisenkopf . The next day some of the cattle were driven to market and sold , and with the money the old man was able to buy some of the fields and gardens round his house , and in a few months had grown the richest and most prosperous man in the whole village . Everything seemed to turn to gold in his hands , till one day , when he and his son were sitting in the orchard watching their herds of cattle grazing in the meadows , he suddenly said : ` Peter , my boy , it is time that you were thinking of marrying . ' ` But , my dear father , I told you I can never marry , because of the promise I gave to Eisenkopf . ' ` Oh , one promises here and promises there , but no one ever thinks of keeping such promises . If Eisenkopf does not like your marrying , he will have to put up with it all the same ! Besides , there stands in the stable a grey horse which is saddled night and day ; and if Eisenkopf should show his face , you have only got to jump on the horse 's back and ride away , and nobody on earth can catch you .
When all is safe you will come back again , and we shall live as happily as two fish XXXXX the sea . '
Besides If as at by for in over that with