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SHIVER AND SHAKE. 35 |
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back, will you, or I will hang you up again." But the dead could not hear him, they only sat silent and let their rags burn.
Then Hans became angry, and said, " If you will not move, there is no help for it; I must not let you burn, I must hang you up," So he hung the seven bodies up again all in a row, then laid himself down by the fire and fell fast asleep.
In the morning the man came, according to his promise, hoping to get the fifty dollars. " Well, I suppose you know now what it is to shiver and shake ?" he said.
"No, indeed," he replied. "Why should I? those up there have not opened their mouths once; and when I seated them round the fire, they allowed their old rags to burn without moving, and if I had not hung the bodies up again, they would have been burned also. The man looked quite scared when he heard this, and went away without attempting to ask for the fifty dollars.
Then Hans continued his journey, and again said aloud to himself, " I wonder what this shivering and shaking can be."
A wagoner walking along the road by his horses overtook him, and asked who he was.
" I don't know," he replied.
The wagoner asked again, "Why are you here?"
" I can't tell," said Hans.
* Who is your father ?"
" I dare not say,"
"What were you grumbling about just now, when I came up with you ?"
" I want to learn to shiver and shake," said Hans.
" Don't talk nonsense," said the wagoner. " Come with me, I will show you a little of the world, and find you something to do better than that."
So the young man went with the wagoner, and about evening they arrived at an inn, where they put up for the night No sooner, however, did Hans enter the room than he muttered to himself, " Oh ! if I could only learn to shiver and shake."
The landlord heard him, and said with a laugh, " If that is all you wish to learn, I can tell you of a splendid opportunity in this part of the world."
"Ah! be silent now," said the landlady. "You know how many people have already lost their lives through their curiosity |
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