Part 7 (1/2)

”When he came down to the king's grange the king and his wood-grieve stood in the gallery to take him to task for having been so wasteful in the forest--the wood-grieve had been up to see what he was at--but when Grumblegizzard came along dragging back half a wood of timber, the king got both angry and afraid, and he thought he must be careful with him, since he was so strong.

”'That I call a workman, and no mistake,' said the king; 'but how much do you eat at once, for now you may well be hungry.'

”'When he was to have a good meal of porridge, he could do with twelve barrels of meal,' said Grumblegizzard; 'but when he had got so much inside him, he could hold out for some time.'

”It took time to get the porridge boiled, and, meantime, he was to draw in a little wood for the cook; so he laid the whole pile of wood on a sledge, but when he was to get through the doorway with it, he got into a sc.r.a.pe again. The house was so shaken that it gave way at every joist, and he was within an ace of dragging the whole grange over on end.

”When the hour drew near for dinner, they sent him out to call home the folk from the field; he bawled and bellowed so that the rocks and hills rang again; but they did not come quick enough for him, so he fell out with them, and slew twelve of them on the spot.

”'He has slain twelve men,' said the king; 'and he eats for twelve times twelve. But for how many do you work, I should like to know?'

”'For twelve times twelve, too,' said Grumblegizzard.

”When he had eaten his dinner, he was to go out into the barn to thrash, so he took off the roof-tree and made a flail out of it; and, when the roof was just about to fall, he took a great spruce fir, branches and all, and stuck it up for a roof-tree; and then he thrashed the floor and the straw, and hay, altogether. He did great harm, for the grain and chaff and beard flew about together, and a cloud arose over the whole grange.

”When he was nearly done thras.h.i.+ng, enemies came into the land; and there was to be war. So the king told him to take folk with him and go on the way to meet the foe and fight them, for he thought they would put him to death. 'No! he would have no folk with him to be slain; he would fight alone, that he would,' said Grumblegizzard.

”'All the better, I shall be sooner rid of him,' said the king.

”But he must have a mighty club.

”They sent off to the smith to forge a club of fifty pounds. 'That might do very well to crack nuts,' said Grumblegizzard. So they smithied him one of a hundred pounds. 'That might do well enough to nail shoes with,'

he said. Well, the smith couldn't smithy it any bigger with all his men.

So Grumblegizzard went off to the smithy himself, and forged a club of fifteen tons, and it took a hundred men to turn it on the anvil. 'That might do,' said Grumblegizzard.

”Besides, he must have a scrip for food; and he made one out of fifteen oxhides, and stuffed it full of food. And so he toddled off down the hill with his scrip at his back and his club on his shoulder.

”So, when he had got so far that the enemy saw him, they sent out a man to ask if he were coming against them.

”'Bide a bit, till I have had my dinner,' said Grumblegizzard, as he threw himself down on the road, and fell to eating behind his great scrip.

”But they couldn't wait, and began to shoot at him at once, so that it rained and hailed rifle bullets.

”'These bilberries I don't mind a bit,' said Grumblegizzard, and fell to eating harder than ever.

”Neither lead nor iron could touch him, and before him was his scrip, like a wall, and kept off the fire.

”So they took to throwing sh.e.l.ls at him, and to fire cannons at him; and he just grinned a little every time they hit him.

”'Ah! ah! it's all no good,' he said. But, just then, he got a bombsh.e.l.l right down his throat.

”'Fie!' he said, and spat it out again; and then came a chain-shot and made its way into his b.u.t.ter-box, and another took the bit he was just going to eat from between his fingers. Then he got angry, and rose up, and took his club, and dashed it on the ground, and asked if they were going to s.n.a.t.c.h the bread out of his mouth with their bilberries, which they puffed out of big peashooters. Then he gave a few more strokes, till the rocks and hills shook, and the enemy flew into the air like chaff, and so the war was over.”

Having got so far, Peter said he must take breath, and called for another bowl of milk, and while he refreshed himself, we all waited open-mouthed for the rest of the story of Grumblegizzard.

”When Grumblegizzard got home again and wanted more work, the king was in a sad way, for he thought he should have been rid of him that time, and now he could think of nothing but to send him to h.e.l.l.

”'You must be off to Old Nick, and ask for my land-tax.'