They kept it on the floor of a
loft, and when spring came they sowed the remainder of the stock in a
field, where it produced such an abundant crop that they had plenty of
provisions for the following winter.
"Thus they lived a peaceful and happy life, which was so uneventful that
it has no history; and Mark, the watchman, who always stood on the
coping-stone of the highest chimney to act as sentinel, used constantly
to fall asleep, partly from sheer boredom, and partly from the combined
effects of old age, good living, and having nothing on earth to do.
Flaps, too, who had undertaken to guard the castle against intruders,
and who at first used to patrol the house carefully inside and out every
night, soon came to the conclusion that the game was not worth the
candle.
"One chilly evening, about the time of the first snows, when the wind
was beginning to whistle over the heath and make strange noises in the
castle, two old hens were up in the loft having a chat and picking up a
few stray grains of corn for supper. All of a sudden they heard a
mysterious 'Piep.' 'Hollo!' said one, 'what's that? no one can be
hatching out at this time of the year--it's impossible; yet surely
something said "Piep" down there in the corner.
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