Page:Christmas Fireside Stories.djvu/306

 A Summer Night in a Norwegian Forest. 294 The manner in which he told these stories was, like his speech, slow and expressive, and he had the custom of repeating single words, or part of his sentences at the end of these, or adding one or another superfluous explanation. He generally applied these remarks after one of his many exertions to keep his pipe alight, and they had such a comical efifect on me, that I had great difficulty to refrain from laughing outright. I was in a merry mood after håving safely got through my nocturnal expedition, and to this I must ascribe the fact that his stories did not make the impression upon me which, after what I had gone through, might have been expected. The dawn of the day was now appearing, and old Thor told one of his companions to row me across the lake, and put me on my right road