Page:Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar.djvu/175

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along a high road one day, a certain Potter met a man, who, stopping him, said,—

"Take me to your place as a workman."

"But do you understand pottery?" asked the Potter.

"Oh, yes, master, nobody better; just you try."

"Come along, then!"

And they shook hands with each other and went home.

"Well, give me forty loads of clay," said the man, when he arrived, "and to-morrow I shall set to work."

The Potter got all the things he wanted, and gave them to him.

"I shall only work at night, master," said the man; "but take care and don't come near me in the workroom."

"Why not?"

"Because if you do, bad luck will befall you."

Now this man was no other than an evil spirit, and when it was about midnight, he went down into the workroom and called out something in a loud voice, suddenly in came tumbling a number of little devils, who immediately set to work, hammering away like thunder, making pots. The noise was so great that it sounded all through the house and in the streets.

The Potter could stand it no longer.