Ганс Андерсен - Fairy Tales

“Oh, if only I could have a bite of that!” Little Claus said and stretched his head way over by the window. God, what a beautiful cake he could see there! Here was luxury for sure!

Then he heard someone riding towards the house on the road. It was the woman’s husband, who was coming home. He was a kind man, but he had the most remarkable malady—he could not tolerate the sight of sextons. If a sexton came into view, he became absolutely furious. And that was why the sexton had come to visit the woman when he knew the farmer was not at home, and why the good woman treated him to all the best food she had in the house. When they heard the husband coming, they became very frightened, and the woman told the sexton to get into a big empty chest in the corner. He did that at once because he knew, of course, that the poor man couldn’t tolerate the sight of sextons. The farmer’s wife hurried to hide the scrumptious food and wine in the oven, because if the husband saw it, he would certainly have asked what the meaning of this was.

Up on the shed, Little Claus sighed, “Oh well,” when he saw all the good food disappear.

“Is there somebody up there?” asked the farmer and peered up at Little Claus. “What are you doing up there? Come down into the house instead.”

So then Little Claus explained how he had gotten lost and asked if he could spend the night.

“Sure!” the farmer said. “But first we’ll have a bite to eat!”

The woman welcomed them both warmly, set the long table, and gave them a big bowl of porridge. The farmer was hungry and ate with a good appetite, but Little Claus couldn’t help but think about the lovely roast, fish, and cake that he knew was in the oven.

He had put the bag with his horse-skin under the table by his feet, because we know, of course, that’s why he left home—to sell it in town. The porridge didn’t taste very good to him, and so he stepped on the bag, and the dry skin in the sack creaked pretty loudly.

“Hush!” Little Claus said to the bag, but at the same time he stepped on it again, so it creaked much louder than before.

“Say, what do you have in your bag?” asked the farmer.

“Oh, it’s a wizard,” answered Little Claus. “He says that we shouldn’t eat porridge because he has conjured up the whole oven full of roast and fish and cake.”

“What’s that!” the farmer cried, and he quickly opened the oven where he saw all the lovely food his wife had hidden, but which he now thought the wizard had conjured up for them. The woman didn’t dare say a thing, but put the food on the table right away, and they ate fish and roast and cake. Then Little Claus stepped on the bag again, so the skin creaked.

“What’s he saying now?” asked the farmer.

“He says,” Little Claus said, “that he has also conjured up three bottles of wine for us. They are over in the corner by the oven.” So then the woman had to bring out the wine she had hidden, and the farmer drank, became very merry, and said that he would really like to own a wizard like the one Little Claus had in the bag.

“Could he conjure up the devil, too?” asked the farmer. “I would really like to see him because I’m in such a good mood.”

“Yes,” Little Claus answered. “My wizard can do anything I want. Isn’t that right?” he said and stepped on the bag so it creaked. “Can you hear him answer, ‘yes?’ But the devil is so disgusting, it’s not worth seeing him.”

“Oh, I’m not a bit afraid no matter what he looks like.”

“Well, he looks just like a real live sexton!”

“Whew!” the farmer said, “that’s bad. You see I can’t tolerate the sight of sextons. But never mind. As long as I know it’s the devil, maybe I can stand it better. I’m brave now, but he mustn’t come too close to me.”

“Well, I’ll ask my wizard,” Little Claus said, stepped on the bag, and held his ear close.

“What does he say?”

“He says you can go over and open that chest in the corner. You’ll see the devil sitting there pondering, but you have to hold on to the lid so he doesn’t slip out.”

“Will you help me hold it?” asked the farmer, who went over to the chest where the woman had hidden the real sexton, who was sitting in there terrified.

The farmer lifted the lid a little bit and peeked in: “Ugh—!” he screamed and sprang backwards. “I saw him there all right. He looked just like our sexton! Oh, it was terrible!”

They had to drink to that, and they kept drinking way into the night.

“You have to sell me that wizard,” the farmer said. “Just name your price. I’ll give you a whole bushel of money right now!”

“No, I can’t do that,” answered Little Claus. “Just think of all the uses I have for this wizard.”

“Oh, I really really want it,” said the farmer and continued to beg.

“Well,” Little Claus finally said, “Since you’ve been kind enough to put me up tonight, then never mind. I’ll give you the wizard for a whole bushel of money, but I want a heaping bushel.”

“You’ll have it,” the farmer said. “But you have to take the chest with you. I don’t want it in the house a minute longer. He might still be sitting in there.”

Little Claus gave the farmer the bag with the dried skin inside and received a heaping bushel full of money for it. The farmer also gave him a big wheelbarrow to carry the money and chest.

“Good bye!” said Little Claus, and he took off with his money and the big chest, with the sexton still inside.

On the other side of the forest there was a big deep river. The water ran so swiftly that it was almost impossible to swim against the current. A big new bridge had been built across it, and Little Claus stopped right in the middle of it and said so loudly that the sexton could hear every word: “Well, what am I going to do with this dumb old chest? It’s as heavy as if it had stones in it. I’m tired of hauling it further so I’ll just throw it into the river. If it sails home to me, fine, and, if not, that’s all right too.”

So he grabbed the chest with one hand and lifted it a little, as though he were going to throw it into the water.

“No! Stop!” yelled the sexton inside the chest. “Just let me out of here!”

“Yikes!” Little Claus shouted, and acted afraid. “He’s still in there! I’ll have to throw it into the river right away so that he’ll drown.”

“Oh no, oh no!” the sexton screamed. “I’ll give you a whole bushel of money if you don’t.”

“Well, that’s another matter,” Little Claus said, and he opened the chest. The sexton climbed out right away, pushed the empty chest into the water, went home, and gave Little Claus a whole bushel full of money. Since he already had one from before from the farmer, remember, his wheelbarrow was now completely full of money!

“Where have you gotten all that money from?”

“Well, I was pretty well paid for that horse,” Little Claus said to himself when he got back to his own house and dumped all the money in a big pile on the floor. “Big Claus will be annoyed when he finds out how rich I’ve become from my one horse, but I’ll be darned if I tell him about it right away.”

Then he sent a boy over to Big Claus’ place to borrow a bushel scale.

“I wonder what he wants that for?” Big Claus thought and spread some tar under the bottom so something would remain of whatever was measured. And it did too because when he got the scale back, there were three new silver coins stuck on it.

“What’s this?” said Big Claus and ran right over to Little Claus’ house. “Where have you gotten all that money from?”