en as he was by the unexpected
sight, at once guessed the true history. Returning home the night
before, from a nocturnal visit to his sweetheart, he had passed his
father's house, and here he had not only heard the playing of the
fiddler, but, looking through a crevice of the garret-door, he had
likewise discerned the very form of the Dwarf-spirit, and heard his
laughter, as well as the noisy leaping of his unhappy parent. In his
first grief at the frightful termination of his father's career, Klaus
hurled the bitterest execrations at the head of the revengeful
Stringstriker; cursed him over and over again, and himself no less, on
account of his plaguing, ghost-seeing faculty. Raving over the handless
body of Simon, he vowed at length, that if ever again the shadow of the
fiend crossed his path, he would double him up in a sack, and hang him
on the first tree that he came to.

This excited state of mind did not last very long with the volatile
youth; for, truth to say, the sudden dereliction of mortality on the
part of his quarrelsome old father, did not come altogether amiss to
him. What hindered him now from wedding the girl of his heart, and
leading as jolly a life as any? According to good old custom, he put on
his dress and looks of mourning, donned his three-cornered hat, pulled
it deep over his forehead, and walked decently and soberly up the
church-path to the parson's house.

'Reverend sir!' said the precious youth to the minister, 'the Lord has
been very gracious to my father, and this night he has taken him to
himself. May the Lord comfort us! If you please, reverend sir, he shall
be buried on Friday next; and I should like him to have a funeral
oration and a parentation. He was a good man, sir, and I know I shall
miss him at every turn and corner. But God's name be praised, sir, he
always sends us what's best!' And so saying, Klaus wiped the tears on
his eyes.

In due time old Simon was put under ground, and there was not a word to
be said by his many followers against either the deceased father or the
living son; for the latter gave a capital feast in honour of the
occasion, which, setting aside two bloody heads, passed off in the most
satisfactory manner. On the evening of the funeral, Klaus got very
impatient to look over his lawful inheritance. Bethinking him of the
avarice of his father, he had made up his mind to routing out no end of
wealth; for as to the old man's continual complaints and grumbli