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Terli had hold of me, and not an inch would he loosen his grip till I promised to let him see the wedding by getting the Wood-Trolls to stop up the Church Fountain. What was I to do? I was forced to agree, and from that promise comes all the misery of the Bride and Bridegroom."
"It was only the Troll's well-water," she said, and went home as fast as her feet would carry her. As she neared her own door, she heard sounds of splashing and screaming in a shrill piping voice; and on entering, saw Terli struggling violently in the tub of Church water, the little bowl of butter-milk lying spilt upon the floor. "Take me out! Take me out!
"You must be bewitched, Elena, to complain like this! You have everything a reasonable girl can wish for." "Everything? Why I have nothing!" cried Elena angrily, and ran from the room; leaving Terli, who was hiding in a water-bucket, to stamp his feet with delight. "Ha! ha! it is going on excellently," he shouted in his little cracked voice.
"Terli likes it so much he will do anything for butter-milk," she said to herself, as she propped open the kitchen door, and went off with a light heart to see her daughter. She carried with her a jug of the Church water, and when she arrived at the farm house, she gave it to her daughter and son-in-law, and begged them to bathe their eyes with it immediately.
"That's a good morning's work, wife; if you never do another:" said the Bride's father, who had come into the kitchen just as Terli upset the bowl of butter-milk, and fell through the pine branches headlong into the tub beneath. "We shall live in peace and quietness now, for Terli was the most mischievous of the whole of the Troll-folk."
The Troll raised himself leisurely, and as the horse put in his head, Terli seized it in both hands, and hung on so firmly that it was impossible for the poor creature to get away. "Let go!" said the horse, angrily for he understood the Troll language. "Let me go! What are you doing?" "I shan't let you go till you make me a promise.
Often Terli had seen them from his home by the mountain torrent, for he was so high up, he looked down upon the whole village; and he had often longed to join them and hear what they were saying; but as he was nothing but a River-Troll, he was not able to venture within sight or sound of the water of the holy Church Fountain.
"It serves you very well right," said the old woman, and she poured the contents of the tub including Terli into a large bucket, and carried it off in triumph to the Church Fountain. Here she emptied the bucket into the carved stone basin, and left Terli kicking and screaming, while she went home to the farmhouse to breakfast.
As she entered the door of the outhouse, she heard the oxen already whispering to each other, and the old horse, with his head over the division, addressing friendly remarks to a family of goats close by. "Do you know anything of Terli or the Wood-Trolls?" enquired the old woman, looking at the oxen severely. "No, no, no!" and they shook their heads slowly.
The words of the Bride's father proved to be quite true, for after the capture of the Water-Troll the village enjoyed many years of quietness and contentment. As to Terli, he lived in great unhappiness in the Church Fountain; enduring a terrible series of tooth-aches, but unable to escape from the magic power of the water.
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