Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/177

Rh thought of the charcoal-burner, and it was not long before they got him between them, and asked him about it. "No!" he said, "that was past his power, for it was not good to guess at what no man alive could know."

"All very fine, I dare say," said the king. "It's all the same to me, of course, if you know it or if you don't know it; but, you know, you are the wise priest and the true prophet who can foretell things to come; and all I can say is, if you don't tell it me, you shall lose your gown. And, now I think of it, I'll try you first."



So he took the biggest silver tankard he had and went down to the seashore, and in a little while called the priest.

"If you can tell me now what there is in this tankard," said the king, "you will be able to tell me the other