e
meant to do you a mischief. Let us plant the tree as he directed."

"What, in the frozen ground, under the snow?"

But it now, for the first time, appeared that there was a spot of
earth near the south window, which must have been waiting for the
tree, since it was as soft and warm as if the sun had been shining on
it all the year. Here they planted the alder; and Thule brought water,
and moistened the roots.

Next morning the tree seemed to have grown a foot higher; and by
daylight its leaves showed a silver lining.

"May Odin favor my pretty alder!" said Thule; "nor let the frost pinch
it, nor the winds blacken its green buds!"

Thule went into the woods again; and, as he was whistling at his work,
he happened to look down, and there, on the ground, at his feet, lay a
purse, well lined with gold. He counted the pieces: fifty, all bright
and new.

"I will go to the town," thought the boy, shaking his head and sighing
(for the gold was very tempting), "I will go to the town, and ask who
has lost a purse with fifty pieces of precious gold. Ah, me! I wish I
could keep it! then we should swim in herrings and oil; and who knows
but, for once in my life, I might even get a taste of venison?"

But next moment he loosened his greedy clutch at the purse. "No matter
how bravely it shines! it is not _my_ gold; and it is too heavy for
me to carry. Stolen money is worse than a mill-stone about one's neck,
so my mother says."

"Keep the purse, little boy," said a sweet voice close by his elbow.
He turned, and saw a beautiful child, as radiant as a sunbeam, and
clad in garments of delicate and transparent texture.

"I will be your friend, little boy. That purse was dropped by a lady
who wears a fur cloak and long veil. If she asks for her treasure, I
can say it fell into a hole in the ground. Everybody believes me:
never fear!"

"Poor misguided angel!" said the boy, amazed by her wondrous beauty no
less than by her apparent want of truth. "You are, indeed, a lovely
little tempter; but I have a dear mother at home, and I love her
better than a million pieces of gold. I must go to the town, and seek
out this lady you mention, who wears a fur cloak and long veil."

"Nay, if you will be so stupid," said the shining child, "why, I will
even go with you, and show you the way."

So, gliding gracefully before the bewildered youth, she led him out of
the forest, into the most crowded part of the city, up to the door of
a spl