Tales from the Fjeld Part 14

"'It ought to be a good sum,' said Peik, 'for there wasn't a coach ready to start for Paradise every day.'

"So the man said he would give all he had, and so he knocked out the head of the cask and crept into it instead of Peik.

"'A happy journey,' said the King, when he came to roll him down; 'now you'll go faster to the firth than if you were in a sledge with reindeer; and now it's all over with you and your fooling rods.'

"Before the cask was half-way down the fell, there wasn't a whole stave of it left, nor a limb of him who was inside. But when the King came back to the Grange, Peik was there before him, and sat in the courtyard playing on the Jews' harp.

"'What! you sitting here, you Peik?'

"'Yes! here I sit, sure enough; where else should I sit?' said Peik.

'Maybe I can get house-room here for all my horses and sheep and money.'

"'But whither was it that I rolled you that you got all this wealth?'

asked the King.

"'Oh, you rolled me into the firth,' said Peik, 'and when I got to the bottom there was more than enough and to spare, both of horses and sheep and of gold and silver. The cattle went about in great flocks, and the gold and silver lay in large heaps as big as houses.'

"'What will you take to roll me down the same way?' asked the King.

"'Oh,' said Peik, 'it costs little or nothing to do it. Besides, you took nothing from me, and so I'll take nothing from you either.'

"So he stuffed the King into a cask and rolled him over, and when he had given him a ride down to the firth for nothing, he went home to the King's Grange. Then he began to hold his bridal feast with the youngest princess, and afterwards he ruled both land and realm, but he kept his fooling rods to himself, and kept them so well that nothing was ever afterwards heard of Peik and his tricks, but only of OURSELF THE KING."

KARIN'S THREE STORIES.

"Now," said Karin, "as you have told _Peik_, which I did not want to tell, I'll tell you three stories all of a row, _Death and the Doctor_, _The Way of the World_, and _The Pancake_." So she began with the first.

DEATH AND THE DOCTOR.

'Once on a time there was a lad, who had lived as a servant a long time with a man of the North Country. This man was a master at ale-brewing; it was so out-of-the-way good the like of it was not to be found. So, when the lad was to leave his place and the man was to pay him the wages he had earned, he would take no other pay than a keg of yule-ale. Well!

he got it and set off with it, and he carried it both far and long, but the longer he carried the keg the heavier it got, and so he began to look about to see if anyone were coming with whom he might have a drink, that the ale might lessen, and the keg lighten. And after a long, long time, he met an old man with a big beard.

"'Good-day,' said the man.

"'Good-day to you,' said the lad.

"'Whither away?' asked the man.

"'I'm looking after some one to drink with, and get my keg lightened,'

said the lad.

"'Can't you drink as well with me as with anyone else?' said the man. 'I have fared both far and wide, and I am both tired and thirsty.'

"'Well! why shouldn't I?' said the lad; 'but tell me, whence do you come, and what sort of man are you?'

"'I am "Our Lord," and come from Heaven,' said the man.

"'Thee will I not drink with,' said the lad; 'for thou makest such distinction between persons here in the world, and sharest rights so unevenly that some get so rich and some so poor. No! with thee I will not drink,' and as he said this he trotted off with his keg again.

"So, when he had gone a bit farther the keg grew too heavy again; he thought he never could carry it any longer unless some one came with whom he might drink, and so lessen the ale in the keg. Yes! he met an ugly scrawny man who came along fast and furious.

"'Good-day,' said the man.

"'Good-day to you,' said the lad.

"'Whither away?' asked the man.

"'Oh! I'm looking for some one to drink with, and get my keg lightened,'

said the lad.

"'Can't you drink with me as well as with any one else?' said the man; 'I have fared both far and wide, and I am tired and thirsty.'

"'Well! why not?' said the lad; 'but who are you, and whence do you come?'

"'Who am I? I am the De'il, and I come from h.e.l.l; that's where I come from,' said the man.

"'No!' said the lad; 'thou only pinest and plaguest poor folk, and if there is any unhappiness a-stir, they always say it is thy fault. Thee I will not drink with.'

"So he went far and farther than far again with his ale-keg on his back, till he thought it grew so heavy there was no carrying it any farther.

He began to look round again if any one were coming with whom he could drink and lighten his keg. So after a long, long time, another man came, and he was so dry and lean 'twas a wonder his bones hung together.

"'Good-day,' said the man.

"'Good-day to you,' said the lad.

"'Whither away?' asked the man.

"'Oh, I was only looking about to see if I could find some one to drink with, that my keg might be lightened a little, it is so heavy to carry.'

"'Can't you drink as well with me as with anyone else?' said the man.

"'Yes; why not?' said the lad. 'But what sort of man are you?'

"'They call me Death,' said the man.

"'The very man for my money,' said the lad. 'Thee I am glad to drink with,' and as he said this he put down his keg, and began to tap the ale into a bowl. 'Thou art an honest, trustworthy man, for thou treatest all alike, both rich and poor.'

"So he drank his health, and Death drank his health, and Death said he had never tasted such drink, and as the lad was fond of him, they drank bowl and bowl about, till the ale was lessened, and the keg grew light.

"At last, Death said, 'I have never known drink which smacked better, or did me so much good as this ale that you have given me, and I scarce know what to give you in return.' But after he had thought a while, he said the keg should never get empty, however much they drank out of it, and the ale that was in it should become a healing drink, by which the lad could make the sick whole again better than any doctor. And he also said that when the lad came into the sick man's room Death would always be there, and show himself to him, and it should be to him for a sure token if he saw Death at the foot of the bed that he could cure the sick with a draught from the keg; but if he sate by the pillow, there was no healing nor medicine, for then the sick belonged to Death.

"Well, the lad soon grew famous, and was called in far and near, and he helped many to health again, who had been given over. When he came in and saw how Death sate by the sick man's bed, he foretold either life or death, and his foretelling was never wrong. He got both a rich and powerful man, and at last he was called in to a king's daughter far, far away in the world. She was so dangerously ill no doctor thought he could do her any good, and so they promised him all that he cared either to ask or have if he would only save her life.

"Now, when he came into the princess's room, there sate Death at her pillow; but as he sate he dozed and nodded, and while he did this she felt herself better.