` Because , ' replied Halfman , ` the baby is not really ours , but belongs to an ogress . ' ` Are you mad ? ' cried the wife . ` What do you mean by talking like that ? ' ' I promised , ' said Halfman , ` when she undertook to kill my brother and to give you to me , that the first son we had should be hers . ' ` And will she take him from us now ? ' said the poor woman . ` No , not quite yet , ' replied Halfman ; ` when he is bigger . ' ` And is she to have all our children ? ' asked she . ` No , only this one , ' returned Halfman . Day by day the boy grew bigger , and one day as he was playing in the street with the other children , the ogress came by . ` Go to your father , ' she said , ` and repeat this speech to him : `` I want my forfeit ; when am I to have it ? '' ' ` All right , ' replied the child , but when he went home forgot all about it . The next day the ogress came again , and asked the boy what answer the father had given . ' I forgot all about it , ' said he . ` Well , put this ring on your finger , and then you wo n't forget . ' ` Very well , ' replied the boy , and went home . The next morning , as he was at breakfast , his mother said to him , ` Child , where did you get that ring ? ' ' A woman gave it to me yesterday , and she told me , father , to tell you that she wanted her forfeit , and when was she to have it ? '
Then his father burst into tears and said , ` If she comes again you must say XXXXX her that your parents bid her take her forfeit at once , and depart . '
about as at by from in on that to with