Now after a time one of them thrust his leg out from under the bed, and quick as anything the lad brings his sword down, and cuts it off. Then another bogle thrust his arm out at t'other side of the bed, and in a twinkling the lad cuts that off too. So it went on, till at last he had maimed them all, and they all went off, crying and wailing, and forgot the ball! Then the lad got out of bed, found the ball, and went off at once to seek his true love. [Illustration: He heard the bogles striving under the bed] Now the lass had been taken to York to be hanged; she was brought out on the scaffold, and the hangman said, "Now, lass, thou must hang by the neck till thou be'st dead." But she cried out: "Stop, stop, I think I see my mother coming! O mother, hast thou brought my golden ball And come to set me free?" And the mother answered: "I've neither brought thy golden ball Nor come to set thee free, But I have come to see thee hung Upon this gallows-tree." Then the hangman said, "Now, lass, say thy prayers for thou must die." But she said: "Stop, stop, I think I see my father coming! O father, hast thou brought my golden ball And come to set me free?" And the father answered: "I've neither brought thy golden ball Nor come to set thee free, But I have come to see thee hung Upon this gallows-tree." Then the hangman said, "Hast thee done thy prayers? Now, lass, put thy head into the noose." But she answered, "Stop, stop, I think I see my brother coming!" And again she sang her little verse, and the brother sang back the same words. And so with her sister, her uncle, her aunt, and her cousin. But they all said the same: "I've neither brought thy golden ball Nor come to set thee free, But I have come to see thee hung Upon this gallows-tree." Then the hangman said, "I will stop no longer, thou'rt making game of me. Thou must be hung at once." But now, at long last, she saw her sweetheart coming through the crowd, so she cried to him: "Stop, stop, I see my sweetheart coming! Sweetheart, hast thou brought my golden ball And come to set me free?" Then her sweetheart held up her golden ball and cried: "Aye, I have brought to thee thy golden ball And come to set thee free; I have not come to see thee hung Upon this gallows-tree." So he took her home, then and there, and they lived happy ever after. THE TWO SISTERS Once upon a time there were two sisters who were as like each other as two peas in a pod; but one was good, and the other was bad-tempered. Now their father had no work, so the girls began to think of going to service. "I will go first and see what I can make of it," said the younger sister, ever so cheerfully, "then you, sis, can follow if I have good luck."