Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/79

Rh When they got to the Sound, the river ran full of ice, and was as headlong as a force; but he stuck his legs fast at the bottom, and waded on till he got over at last.

When he had lighted a fire and warmed himself, and got a bit of food, he tried to sleep; but it was not long before there was such a noise and din, as though the whole castle was turned topsy-turvy. The door blew back against the wall, and he saw nothing but a gaping jaw, from the threshold up to the lintel.

"There, you have a bit—taste that!" said Grumblegizzard, as he threw the workhouse boy into the gaping maw.

"Now let me see you, what kind you are. Maybe we are old friends."

So it was, for it was Old Nick, who was outside. Then they took to playing cards, for the Old One wanted to try and win back some of the land-tax, which Grumblegizzard had squeezed out of his mother, when he went to ask it for the king; but whichever way they cut the cards, Grumblegizzard won, for he put a cross on all the court cards, and when he had won all his ready money, Old Nick was forced to give Grumblegizzard some of the gold and silver that was in the castle.

Just as they were hard at it the fire went out, so that they could not tell one card from another.

"Now we must chop wood," said Grumblegizzard, and with that he drove his axe into the fir-stump, and thrust the wedge in; but the gnarled root was tough, and would not split at once, however much he twisted and turned his axe.