Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/119

Rh "Whither away to-day, Peik?"

"Oh, I was going out to see if I could befool anybody," said Peik.

"Can't you befool me, now?" said the King.

"No, I'm sure I can't," said Peik, "for I've forgotten my fooling rods at home."

"Can't you go and fetch them?" said the King, "for I should be very glad to see if you are such a trickster as folks say."

"I've no strength to walk," said Peik.

"I'll lend you a horse and saddle," said the King.

"But I can't ride either," said Peik.

"Then we'll lift you up," said the King; "then you'll be able to stick on."

Well, Peik stood and clawed and scratched his head, as though he would pull the hair off, and let them lift him up into the saddle, and there he sat swinging this side and that so long as the King could see him, and the King laughed till the tears came into his eyes, for such a tailor on horseback he had never before seen. But when Peik was come well into the wood behind the hill, so that he was out of the King's sight, he sat as though he were nailed to the horse, and off he rode as though he had stolen both steed and bridle, and when he got to the town he sold both horse and saddle.

All the while the King walked up and down, and loitered and waited for Peik to come tottering back again with his fooling rods; and every now and then he laughed when he called to mind how wretched he looked as he sat swinging about on the horse like a sack of corn, not knowing on which side to fall off;