uire rose and opened his front door, the fish
came tumbling into the porch, and the whole yard was crammed full of
them. He ran in again to his wife, for he could never devise anything
himself, and said to her, 'What shall we do with him now? Old Eric
hasn't taken him. I am certain that all the fish are out of the lake,
for the yard is just filled with them.'

'Yes, that's a bad business,' said she; 'you must see if you can't get
him sent to Purgatory, to demand tribute.' The squire therefore made
his way to the men's quarters, to speak to Hans, and it took him all his
time to push his way along the walls, under the eaves, on account of the
fish that filled the yard. He thanked Hans for having fished so well,
and said that now he had an errand for him, which he could only give to
a trusty servant, and that was to journey to Purgatory, and demand three
years tribute, which, he said, was owing to him from that quarter.

'Willingly,' said Hans; 'but what road do I go, to get there?'

The squire stood, and did not know what to say, and had first to go in
to his wife to ask her.

'Oh, what a fool you are!' said she, 'can't you direct him straight
forward, south through the wood? Whether he gets there or not, we shall
be quit of him.'

Out goes the squire again to Hans.

'The way lies straight forward, south through the wood,' said he.

Hans then must have his provisions for the journey; two bakings of
bread, two casks of butter, two barrels of ale, and two kegs of brandy.
He tied all these up together, and got them on his shoulder hanging on
his good walking-stick, and off he tramped southward.

After he had got through the wood, there was more than one road, and he
was in doubt which of them was the right one, so he sat down and opened
up his bundle of provisions. He found he had left his knife at home, but
by good chance, there was a plough lying close at hand, so he took the
coulter of this to cut the bread with. As he sat there and took his
bite, a man came riding past him.

'Where are you from?' said Hans.

'From Purgatory,' said the man.

'Then stop and wait a little,' said Hans; but the man was in a hurry,
and would not stop, so Hans ran after him and caught the horse by the
tail. This brought it down on its hind legs, and the man went flying
over its head into a ditch. 'Just wait a little,' said Hans; 'I am going
the same way.' He got his provisions tied up again, and laid them on the
horse's back; then