e which was not locked,
and out at this he crept, intending to run away.

At the same moment as he put his foot outside the church door, he saw
standing before him a little man, who said, 'Good evening, Christian,
where are you going?'

With that he felt as if he were rooted to the spot and could not move.

'Nowhere,' said he.

'Oh, yes,' said the little man, 'You were just about to run away, but
you have taken upon you to stand sentinel in the church to-night, and
there you must stay.'

Christian said, very humbly, that he dared not, and therefore wanted to
get away, and begged to be let go.

'No,' said the little one, 'you must remain at your post, but I shall
give you a piece of good advice; you shall go up into the pulpit, and
remain standing there. You need never mind what you see or hear, it will
not be able to do you any harm, if you remain in your place until you
hear the lid of the chest slam down again behind the dead; then all
danger is past, and you can go about the church, wherever you please.'

The little man then pushed him in at the door again, and locked it after
him. Christian made haste to get up into the pulpit, and stood there,
without noticing anything, until the clock struck twelve. Then the lid
of the princess's chest sprang up, and out of it there came something
like the princess, dressed as you see in the picture. It shrieked and
howled, 'Sentry, where are you? Sentry, where are you? If you don't
come, you shall get the most cruel death anyone had ever got.'

It went all round the church, and when it finally caught sight of the
smith, up in the pulpit, it came rushing thither and mounted the steps.
But it could not get up the whole way, and for all that it stretched and
strained, it could not touch Christian, who meanwhile stood and trembled
up in the pulpit. When the clock struck one, the appearance had to go
back into the chest again, and Christian heard the lid slam after it.
After this there was dead silence in the church. He lay down where he
was and fell asleep, and did not awake before it was bright daylight,
and he heard steps outside, and the noise of the key being put into the
lock. Then he came down from the pulpit, and stood with his musket in
front of the princess's chest.

It was the colonel himself who came with the patrol, and he was not a
little surprised when he found the recruit safe and sound. He wanted
to have a report, but Christian would give him none, so he too