"'You will soon learn what it is to shudder,' he thought. He secretly went there ahead of him. After the boy had reached the top of the tower, had turned around and was about to take hold of the bell rope, he saw a white figure standing on the steps opposite the sound hole.

'Who is there?' he shouted, but the figure gave no answer, neither moving nor stirring. 'Answer me,' shouted the boy, 'or get out of here. You have no business here at night.'

The sexton, however, remained standing there motionless so that the boy would think he was a ghost.

The boy shouted a second time, 'What do you want here? Speak if you are an honest fellow, or I will throw you down the stairs.'

The sexton thought, 'He can't seriously mean that.' He made not a sound and stood as if he were made of stone.

Then the boy shouted to him for the third time, and as that also was to no avail, he ran toward him and pushed the ghost down the stairs. It fell down ten steps and remained lying there in a corner. Then the boy rang the bell, went home, and without saying a word went to bed and fell asleep."

"After he had put these two to rest, he was about to sit down again by his fire, when from every side and every corner there came black cats and black dogs on red-hot chains. More and more of them appeared until he could no longer move. They shouted horribly, then jumped into his fire and pulled it apart, trying to put it out..."

"As he thus sat there, his eyes would no longer stay open, and he wanted to fall asleep. Looking around, he saw a large bed in the corner. 'That is just what I wanted,' he said, and lay down in it. However, as he was about to shut his eyes, the bed began to move by itself, going throughout the whole castle.

'Good,' he said, 'but let's go faster.'

Then the bed rolled on as if six horses were harnessed to it, over thresholds and stairways, up and down. But then suddenly, hop, hop, it tipped upside down and lay on him like a mountain. But he threw the covers and pillows into the air, climbed out, and said, 'Now anyone who wants to may drive.' Then he lay down by his fire, and slept until it was day."

"Then a man came in. He was larger than all others, and looked frightful. But he was old and had a long white beard.

'You wretch,' he shouted, 'you shall soon learn what it is to shudder, for you are about to die.'

'Not so fast,' answered the boy. 'If I am to die, I will have to be there.'

'I've got you,' said the monster.

'Now, now, don't boast. I am just as strong as you are, and probably even stronger.'

'We shall see,' said the old man. 'If you are stronger than I am, I shall let you go. Come, let's put it to the test.'

Then the old man led him through dark passageways to a blacksmith's forge, took an ax, and with one blow drove one of the anvils into the ground."

"'I can do better than that,' said the boy, and went to the other anvil. The old man stood nearby, wanting to look on. His white beard hung down. The boy seized the ax and split the anvil with one blow, wedging the old man's beard in the crack.

'Now I have you,' said the boy. 'Now it is your turn to die.' Then he seized an iron bar and beat the old man until he moaned and begged him to stop, promising that he would give him great riches. The boy pulled out the ax and released him. The old man led him back into the castle, and showed him three chests full of gold in a cellar.

'Of these,' he said, 'one is for the poor, the second one is for the king, and the third one is yours.'

Meanwhile it struck twelve, and the spirit disappeared, leaving the boy standing in the dark. 'I can find my own way out,' he said. Feeling around, he found his way to the bedroom, and fell asleep by his fire."