Page:Lange - The Blue Fairy Book.djvu/128

 youth, and went to the other anvil. The old man drew near him in order to watch closely, and his white beard hung right down. Then the youth seized the axe, cleft the anvil open, and jammed in the old man’s beard. Now I have you,’ said the youth; ‘this time it’s your turn to die.’ Then he seized an iron rod and belaboured the old man till he, whimpering, begged him to leave off, and he would give him great riches.



The youth drew out the axe and let him go. The old man led him back to the castle and showed him in a cellar three chests of gold. ‘One of these,’ he said, ‘belongs to the poor, one to the King, and the third is yours.’ At that moment twelve struck, and the spirit vanished, leaving the youth alone in the dark. ‘I’ll surely be able to find a way out,’ said he, and groping about he at length found his way back to the room, and fell asleep at his fire. The next morning the King came, and said: ‘Well, now you’ve surely learnt to shudder?’ ‘No,’ he answered; ‘what can it be? My dead cousin was there, and an old bearded man came, who showed me heaps of money down below there, but what shuddering is no one has told me.’ Then the King spoke: