-begging," said the
tramp, but if she wanted to learn how to make it she had only to watch
him, he said, and went on stirring the broth.

The old woman squatted on the ground, her hands clasping her knees, and
her eyes following his hand as he stirred the broth.

"This generally makes good broth," he said; "but this time it will very
likely be rather thin, for I have been making broth the whole week with
the same nail. If one only had a handful of sifted oatmeal to put in,
that would make it all right," he said. "But what one has to go without,
it's no use thinking more about," and so he stirred the broth again.

"Well, I think I have a scrap of flour somewhere," said the old woman,
and went out to fetch some, and it was both good and fine.

The tramp began putting the flour into the broth, and went on stirring,
while the woman sat staring now at him and then at the pot until her
eyes nearly burst their sockets.

"This broth would be good enough for company," he said, putting in one
handful of flour after another. "If I had only a bit of salted beef and
few potatoes to put in, it would be fit for gentlefolks, however
particular they might be," he said. "But what one has to go without,
it's no use thinking more about."

When the old woman really began to think it over, she thought she had
some potatoes, and perhaps a bit of beef as well; and these she gave the
tramp, who went on stirring, while she sat and stared as hard as ever.

"This will be grand enough for the best in the land," he said.

"Well, I never!" said the woman; "and just fancy--all with a nail!"

He was really a wonderful man, that tramp! He could do more than drink a
sup and turn the tankard up, he could.

"If one had only a little barley and a drop of milk, we could ask the
king himself to have some of it," he said; "for this is what he has
every blessed evening--that I know, for I have been in service under the
king's cook," he said.

"Dear me! Ask the king to have some! Well, I never!" exclaimed the
woman, slapping her knees. She was quite awestruck at the tramp and his
grand connections.

"But what one has to go without, it's no use thinking more about," said
the tramp.

And then she remembered she had a little barley; and as for milk, well,
she wasn't quite out of that, she said. And then she went to fetch
both the one and the other.

The tramp went on stirring, and the woman sat staring, one moment at him
and the next at the pot.