they grown
too old? Why have I not some protecting spirit, strong and
mighty--wicked even, if it need be? Some such I see in stone at the
church-door; but what do they there? Why do they not go to their
proper dwelling, the castle, to carry off and roast those sinners? Oh,
who is there will give me power and might? I would gladly give myself
in exchange. Ah, me, what is it I would give? What have I to give on
my side? Nothing is left me. Out on this body, out on this soul, a
mere cinder now! Why, instead of this useless goblin, have I not some
spirit, great, strong, and mighty, to help me?"

"My darling mistress! If I am small, it is your fault; and bigger I
cannot grow. And besides, if I were very big, neither you nor your
husband would have borne with me. You would have driven me away with
your priests and your holy water. I can be strong, however, if you
please. For, mistress mine, the spirits in themselves are neither
great nor small, neither weak nor strong. For him who wishes it, the
smallest can become a giant."

"In what way?"

"Why, nothing can be simpler. To make him a giant, you must grant him
only one gift."

"What is that?"

"A lovely woman-soul."

"Ah, wicked one! What then art thou, and what wouldst thou have?"

"Only what you give me every day.... Would you be better than the lady
up yonder? She has pledged her soul to her husband and to her lover,
and yet she yields it whole to her page. I am more than a page to you,
more than a servant. In how many matters have I not been your little
handmaid! Do not blush, nor be angry. Let me only say, that I am all
about you, and already perhaps in you. Else, how could I know your
thoughts, even those which you hide from yourself? Who am I, then?
Your little soul, which speaks thus openly to the great one. We are
inseparable. Do you know how long I have been with you? Some thousand
years, for I belonged to your mother, to hers, to your ancestors. I am
the Spirit of the Fireside."

"Tempter! What wilt thou do?"

"Why, thy husband shall be rich, thyself mighty, and men shall fear
thee."

"Where am I? Surely thou art the demon of hidden treasures!"

"Why call me demon, if I do deeds of justice, of goodness, of piety?
God cannot be everywhere--He cannot be always working. Sometimes He
likes to rest, leaving us other spirits here to carry on the smaller
husbandry, to remedy the ills which his providence passed over, which
his justice forgot to handle.