ome here, dog, come
along. He won't come. Good Heavens! it is the wolf we have been
searching for. He barks hoarsely--he is coming nearer."

For an instant Adam's hair stood on end, then boldly rushing forwards,
he shouted--"I'll soon do for you--there, and there!"

The wolf now discovered what fierce strokes a man can give who has been
forced into a betrothal, especially when that man is Adam Roettmann. The
wolf received the strokes due to the wicked world in general, on which
Adam would gladly have hammered away for an hour, and even after the
animal lay prostrate, Adam scarcely believed he was dead; for wolves
are vastly cunning, and he continued his blows, till at last he
cautiously turned the animal over with the spike of his staff, and saw
his four feet sticking up in the air. As the wolf no longer showed the
smallest signs of life, Adam said, with infinite composure--"There, you
are pretty well done for!" Perspiration was streaming down his
forehead; he had lost his pipe, which had fallen out of his mouth, and
it was probably the sparks he had shook out that had frightened the
wolf. Adam sought in every direction for his pipe, but it was nowhere
to be seen; at last he gave it up, and seizing the wolf by the nape of
the neck, he dragged it behind him the whole way. When he saw the
lights in the village, he laughed, and thought--"How astonished all in
the village will be, when I bring them the wolf beat to death by my
cudgel, and what will my Joseph say? Yes, little fellow! you must
respect your father for his strength." Adam had in reality heard his
name called behind him; for his father had followed him, and shouted
out "Adam!" Who knows whether in the blinding snow the old man has not
lost his way? Was Adam right also, in thinking that he heard a child's
voice in the wood calling out "Father"?

It was not long before the inhabitants of the Forest Mill discovered
that both father and son had mysteriously gone away, and the Roettmaennin
knew well where they had gone to.

She raged most, however, against her husband, who, without saying a
word to her, had gone in pursuit of his foolish son; he was sure to do
something stupid, when he did not come to her for advice. Adam too was
by no means spared, and she called him many names far from flattering,
and not at all in accordance with bridal festivities. The miller's
wife, however, was sharp enough to interpose, saying that the
Roettmaennin was only in jest, becaus