midday
he muttered , shaking his aching head . `` For Christ 's sake , forgive me , brother and sister ; I 'm not happy myself . '' As it was a holiday , they bought a herring at the tavern and made a soup of the herring 's head . At midday they all sat down to drink tea , and went on drinking it for a long time , till they were all perspiring ; they looked positively swollen from the tea-drinking , and after it began sipping the broth from the herring 's head , all helping themselves out of one bowl . But the herring itself Granny had hidden . In the evening a potter began firing pots on the ravine . In the meadow below the girls got up a choral dance and sang songs .