once upon a time , long , long years ago , there lived a well - to - do old couple on a homestead up in hadeland . they had a son , who was a dragoon , a big , handsome fellow . they had a pasture in the hills , and the hut was not like most of the herdsmen 's huts ; but was well and solidly built , and even had a chimney , a roof and a window . and there they spent the summer . but when they came back home in the fall , the wood - cutters and huntsmen and fishermen . and whoever else had business in the woods at that time , noticed that the mountain folk had carried on its tricks with their herd . and among the mountain folk was a maiden who was so beautiful that her like had never been seen . the son had often heard tell of her , and one fall , when his parents had already come home from the mountain pasture , he put on his full uniform , saddled his service horse , thrust his pistols in the holsters , and thus rode up into the hills . when he rode toward the pasture , such a fire burned in the herdsman 's hut that it lit up every road , and then he knew that the mountain folk were inside . so he tied his horse to a pine - tree , took a pistol from its holster , crept up to the hut , and peeped through the window . and there sat an old man and a woman who were quite crooked and shriveled up with age , and so unspeakably ugly that he had never seen anything like it in his life ; but with them was a maiden , and she was so surpassingly beautiful that he fell in love with her at once , and felt that he could not live without her . all had cow 's tails , and th lovely maiden , too . and he could see that they had only just arrived , for everything was in disorder . the maiden was busy washing the ugly old man , and the woman was building a fire under the great cheese - kettle on the hearth . 
he had often heard of the maiden who was so beautiful .
why did the son ride up into the hills ?
why did the son ride up into the hills ?