a they found reason
to change in the course of time.

The parents of Rasmus and Niels were good Catholics, and when they were
getting old the mother took it into her head that she would like to go
to Rome and see the Pope. The others didn't see much use in this, but
she had her way in the end: they sold all the sheep, shut up the house,
and set out for Rome on foot. Niels took his gun with him.

'What do you want with that?' said Rasmus; 'we have plenty to carry
without it.' But Niels could not be happy without his gun, and took it
all the same.

It was in the hottest part of summer that they began their journey, so
hot that they could not travel at all in the middle of the day, and they
were afraid to do it by night lest they might lose their way or fall
into the hands of robbers. One day, a little before sunset, they came to
an inn which lay at the edge of a forest.

'We had better stay here for the night,' said Rasmus.

'What an idea!' said Niels, who was growing impatient at the slow
progress they were making. 'We can't travel by day for the heat, and we
remain where we are all night. It will be long enough before we get to
Rome if we go on at this rate.'

Rasmus was unwilling to go on, but the two old people sided with Niels,
who said, 'The nights aren't dark, and the moon will soon be up. We can
ask at the inn here, and find out which way we ought to take.'

So they held on for some time, but at last they came to a small opening
in the forest, and here they found that the road split in two. There was
no sign-post to direct them, and the people in the inn had not told them
which of the two roads to take.

'What's to be done now?' said Rasmus. 'I think we had better have stayed
at the inn.'

'There's no harm done,' said Niels. 'The night is warm, and we can wait
here till morning. One of us will keep watch till midnight, and then
waken the other.'

Rasmus chose to take the first watch, and the others lay down to sleep.
It was very quiet in the forest, and Rasmus could hear the deer and
foxes and other animals moving about among the rustling leaves. After
the moon rose he could see them occasionally, and when a big stag came
quite close to him he got hold of Niels' gun and shot it.

Niels was wakened by the report. 'What's that?' he said.

'I've just shot a stag,' said Rasmus, highly pleased with himself.

'That's nothing,' said Niels. 'I've often shot a sparrow, which is a
much more difficult thing t