forted at heart. He was but a little way from the house, when a maid-servant ran out calling to him to rejoice, for a little son had been born to him. The miller stood still as if thunder-struck, for it flashed across him in an instant that the fairy had known of this, and had beguiled him.
With drooping head he went in to his wife, and when she asked, "Why do you show no sign of joy at the sight of your beautiful boy?" he related to her what had happened and told her of the promise he had made the fairy. "And of what use or pleasure to me are good fortune and riches," he continued, "if I must lose my son! But what am I to do?" And not one among the relations who had come in to wish them joy knew how to help or advise.
In the meantime prosperity returned to the miller's house. He was successful in all his undertakings and it seemed as if his chests and coffers filled of their own accord, and as if the money he put away multiplied itself during the night. In a little while his wealth was greater than it had been before, but he could not enjoy it in perfect peace, for the remembrance of the promise he had made to the fairy continually tormented him. He never went near the mill-pond without a dread at his heart that she would rise out of the water and remind him of what he owed her. He would not let the boy himself approach it: "Beware," he said to him, "if you but touch the water, a hand will come up out of it, seize you, and drag you down."
Year after year, however, passed, and the fairy never showed herself again, so that at last the miller's fears began to be allayed.
The boy grew towards manhood; he was placed under
