Part 36 (1/2)

”'No, it isn't big enough,' said the lad. 'If you haven't bigger trees, we sha'n't make much way with our building after the new fas.h.i.+on.'

”'Yes! I have bigger ones,' said the man. 'You shall soon see; but we must go further on.'

”So they went a long way over the hill, and at last they came to a big tree, one of the finest trees for a mast in all the wood.

”'Do you think this is big enough?' said the man.

”'I almost think it is,' said the lad. 'We will fathom it, and then we shall soon see. You go on the other side of the fir, and I will stand here. If we are not good enough to make our hands meet, it will be big enough; but mind you stretch out well. Stretch out well, do you hear?'

said the lad, as he took out his thongs. As for the man, he did all the lad told him.

”'Yes!' said the lad, 'we shall meet nicely, I can see. But stop a bit, and I'll stretch your hands better,' he said, as he slipped a running knot over his wrists and drew it tight and bound him fast to the tree; then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails, and he fell to flogging the old hunks as fast as he could, and all the while he cried out,--

”'This is the lad who sold the pig, and this is the lad who sold the pig.'

”Nor did he leave off till he thought the old hunks had enough, and that he had got his rights for the pig; and then he loosed him, and left him lying under the tree.

”Now when the man did not come home they made a hue and cry for him over the neighbourhood, and searched the country round; and at last they found him under the fir-tree, more dead than alive.

”So when they had got him home the lad came, and had dressed himself up as a doctor, and said he had come from foreign parts, and knew a cure for all kinds of hurt. And when the man heard that, he was all for having him to doctor him, and the lad said he would not be long in curing him; but he must have him all alone in a room by himself, and no one must be by.

”'If you hear him screech and cry out,' he said, 'you must not mind it; for the more he screeches, the sooner he will be well again.'

”So when they were alone, he said,--

”'First of all I must bleed you.' And so he threw the man roughly down on a bench and bound him fast with the thongs; and then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails, and he fell to flogging him as fast as he could. The man screeched and screamed, for his back was sore, and every lash went into the bare flesh; and the lad flogged and flogged as though there were no end to it and all the while he bawled out,--

”'This is the lad who sold the pig. This is the lad who sold the pig.'

”The old hunks bellowed as though a knife were being stuck into him; but there was not a soul that cared about it, for the more he screeched the sooner he would be well, they thought.

”So when the lad had done his doctoring, he set off from the farm as fast as he could; but they followed fast on his heels, and overtook him and threw him into prison, and the end was he was doomed to be hanged.

”And the old hunks was so angry with him, even then, that he would not have him hanged till he was quite well, so that he might hang him with his own hands.

”So while the lad sat there in prison waiting to be hanged, one of the serving-men came out by night and stole kail in the garden of the old hunks, and the lad saw him.

”'So, so!' said he to himself; 'master thief, it will be odd if I don't play off a trick or two with you before I am hanged.'

”And so when time went on, and the man was so well he thought he had strength enough to hang him, he made them set up a gallows down by the way to the mill, so that he might see the body hanging every time he went to the mill. So they set out to hang the lad, and when they had gone a bit of the way, the lad said,--

”'You will not refuse to let me talk alone with your servant who grinds down yonder at the mill? I did him a bad turn once, and I wish now to confess it, and beg him for forgiveness before I die.'

”Yes! he might have leave to do that.

”'Heaven help you!' he said to the miller's man. 'Now your master is coming to hang you because you stole kail in his garden.'

”As soon as the miller's man heard that, he was so taken aback he did not know which way to turn; and so he asked the lad what he should do.