er, "and their stories are often of a kind to
make one shudder, for they talk about ghosts that walk the earth,
goblins that create a hubbub in their rooms at night, and spirits that
torment men and cattle."

"They don't entertain themselves very well then, I fear," said the
student. "For my part, I confess that there is nothing so displeasing
to me as ghost stories."

"I don't agree with you at all," cried the compass-maker. "I find a
story that causes one to shudder very entertaining. It is just like a
rain-storm when one is sheltered under the roof. He hears the drops
_tick-tack_, _tick-tack_, on the tiles, and then run off in streams,
while he lies warm and dry in bed. So when one listens to ghost stories
in a lighted room, with plenty of company, he feels safe and at ease."

"But how is it afterwards?" asked the student. "When one has listened
who shares in this silly belief in ghosts, will he not tremble when he
is alone again and in the dark? Will he not recall all the horrible
things he has heard? I can even now work myself into quite a rage over
these ghost stories, when I think of my childhood. I was a cheerful,
lively boy, but perhaps somewhat noisier than was agreeable to my
nurse, who could not think of any other means to quiet me than of
giving me a fright. She told me all sorts of horrible stories about
witches and evil spirits who haunted the house. I was too young then to
know that all these stories were untrue. I was not afraid of the
largest hound, could throw every one of my companions; but whenever I
was alone in the dark, I would shut my eyes in terror. I would not go
outside the door alone after dark without a light; and how often did my
father punish me when he noticed my conduct! But for a long time I
could not free my mind from this childish fear, for which my foolish
nurse was wholly to blame."

"Yes, it is a great mistake," observed the huntsman, "to fill a child's
head with such absurdities. I can answer you that I have known brave,
daring men, huntsmen, who did not fear to encounter several of their
foes at once--who, when they were searching for game at night, or on
the lookout for poachers, would, all of a sudden, lose their courage,
taking a tree for a ghost, a bush for a witch, and a pair of fire-flies
for the eyes of a monster that was lurking for them in the dark."

"And it is not only for children," said the student, "that I hold
entertainment of that kind to be in the highest d