struggles before he could bring himself to visit such a person, but
there was no help for it, and, little as he liked it, he ended by making
his request to the hangman, who was flattered that so respectable a man
as Peter should borrow his robe of office, and willingly lent it to him.

Peter now had all that was necessary to secure the magic root; he
stopped up the entrance to the nest, and everything fell out exactly as
Blaize had foretold. As soon as the woodpecker came back with the root
in her beak out rushed Master Peter from behind the tree and displayed
the fiery red cloak so adroitly that the terrified bird dropped the root
just where it could be easily seen. All Peter's plans had succeeded, and
he actually held in his hand the magic root--that master-key which would
unlock all doors, and bring its possessor unheard-of luck. His thoughts
now turned to the mountain, and he secretly made preparations for his
journey. He took with him only a staff, a strong sack, and a little box
which his daughter Lucia had given him.

It happened that on the very day Peter had chosen for setting out, Lucia
and her mother went off early to the town, leaving him to guard the
house; but in spite of that he was on the point of taking his departure
when it occurred to him that it might be as well first to test the
much-vaunted powers of the magic root for himself. Dame Ilse had a
strong cupboard with seven locks built into the wall of her room, in
which she kept all the money she had saved, and she wore the key of it
always hung about her neck. Master Peter had no control at all of the
money affairs of the household, so the contents of this secret hoard
were quite unknown to him, and this seemed to be a good opportunity for
finding out what they were. He held the magic root to the keyhole, and
to his astonishment heard all the seven locks creaking and turning, the
door flew suddenly wide open, and his greedy wife's store of gold pieces
lay before his eyes. He stood still in sheer amazement, not knowing
which to rejoice over most--this unexpected find, or the proof of the
magic root's real power; but at last he remembered that it was quite
time to be starting on his journey. So, filling his pockets with the
gold, he carefully locked the empty cupboard again and left the house
without further delay. When Dame Ilse and her daughter returned they
wondered to find the house door shut, and Master Peter nowhere to be
seen. They knocked and