Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/297

Rh No, that the old hunks would not do—he wouldn't give so much as a dollar even; he had more pigs already than he wanted, and was well off for pigs of that sort. But as the lad was so eager to sell, he would be willing to do him a turn and deal with him; but the most he could give for the whole pig, every inch of it, was fourpence. If he would take that, he might turn his pig into the sty with the rest. That was what the old hunks said.

The lad thought it shameful that he should not get more for his pig; but then he thought that something was better than nothing, and so he took the fourpence and turned in the pig. And then he fingered the money, and went about his business. But when he got out into the road, he could not get it out of his head that he had been cheated out of his pig, and that he was not much better off with fourpence than with nothing. The longer he went and thought of this, the angrier he got, and at last he thought to himself—

"If I could only play him a pretty trick, I wouldn't care either for the pig or the pence."

So he went away and got him a pair of stout thongs and a cat-o'-nine-tails, and then he threw over him a big cloak, and put on a billygoat's beard; and so he went back to the skinflint, and said he was from outlandish parts, where he had learnt to be a master-builder for you must know he had heard the old hunks was going to build a house.

Yes, he would gladly take him as master-builder, he said; for thereabouts there were none but hometaught carpenters. So off they went to look at the