three o'clock in the morning
The master drinks one half of it and offers the other half to his wife : ` You drink too ! ' And after that they do n't go in for much stargazing , nor do they care a fig for the world and all its thousand troubles . They sleep with open doors , and the four sheep-dogs guard the house . `` At three o'clock in the morning Bessy gets up and goes into the stable to milk the cows ; by dawn it must be all done . The little milking-stool is now her throne . She pours the fresh foaming milk into the pails and takes them into the cellar with the help of the serving maid . When the boy sounds his horn the cows must be driven out ; they must be pastured apart from the brood-cows .