Page:Christmas Fireside Stories.djvu/213

 Peik 201 On the third day a rich man came past as Peik lay in the barrel singing—- " To paradise, to paradise I am bound, Safe in my barrel as it turns round and round." When the man heard this, he asked Peik what he would take to let him take his place. such a chance every day to go straight to paradise." The man was willing to give him all he possessed, and so he knocked out the bottom of the barrel and crept into it instead of Peik. In the evening the king came to roll the barrel down the mountain. " A safe journey to you ! " said the king ; he thought it was Peik who was in it. " You'll roll faster into the sea than if you were drawn by the swiftest reindeer, and now there will be an end both to you and your tricks." Before the barrel was half way down the mountain there wasn't a whole stave or bit of it left, nor of the man who was inside. But when the king came home to the palace, Peik was there before him. He sat on the steps and played upon the Jew?s harp. " What ! are you sitting here, Peik ? " said the king. "Of course I am," said Peik. " I suppose I may have lodgings and shelter for all my horses, my cattle and my money." " Where did I roll you to, that you got all these riches ? " asked the icing. " Oh, you rolled me into the sea," said Peik, <f and when I came to the bottom there was more than enough to take both of horses and cattle, of gold and goods. They went about in flocks, and the gold lay in heaps as big as houses. " What will you take to roll me the same way ? " said the king. " Oh, that sha'n't cost you much," said Peik. " Since you didn't take anything of me, I won't take anything of you either."
 * I ought to be well paid for that," said Peik, " for there isn't