The Blue-Haired Ogre 63

things a little better, but the winter was
the most severe they had felt in the wood
for a long while, and when the man trapped
any bird or beast—for he had no money now
with which to buy powder—it was so thin
that they could scarcely get a mouthful out
of it. Sometimes he looked at Peter—who
_ was tall, though sallow and slight —and
sighed. But he said nothing, because the
mother had lost ground when Karl went
away, and had never seemed to recover it,
and he thought that if another child were
to go, it would be the death of her. Know-
ing how low-spirited she had grown, it there-
fore amazed him mightily one evening, as he
came sadly home with little enough in his
bag, to hear her, inside the hut, laughing
just as she used to laugh in the old days
when she was the merriest and the prettiest
girl in all the country round. He could
scarcely believe his ears, but, while he hesi-
tated, the happy sound broke out again, and
he could almost fancy he heard the children
dancing for joy upon the mud floor ; indeed,