Year: 1861



 

 | THE MILL IN THE SEA.

 In olden times :here once lived two broth CTS, one of whom was rich and the othe poor.

 When Christmas was near at hand, th, poor one had not so much as a bit of meal or crust of broad in the house, 50 he went to his brother, and begged him, in God'. name, to give him trif1e. Now, it hap pened that this was not the first time that the rich brother had given the poor one something, and hs was not particularly de. lighted when he saw him coming.

 eff you will do as tell you," said he tc to the unwelcome visitor, you shall have e whole ham that is hanging up to be smoked

 The poor brother said he would do what he told him, and thank him too.

 "There it is," said the rich brother, fling ing him the ham, "and now go to the lower regions"

 Since I have promised it, must" ob. served the other, taking up his ham and go ing Lis way.

 Alter wandering about the whole day, |just as it grew dark he perceived bright light st DO great distance from him.

 " It must be here," thought he.

 On going somewhat further in the forest, however, he found an old man, with long, white beard, who was cutting wood

 Good evening"" said he with the ham.

 Good evening" replied the man; "whith- CT may you be going?"

 Oh, I'm only going to the lower regions; only don't know whether Pm come the right way" replied the poor, simple-hearted man.

 Yes, you are quite right" said the old man, :" the entrance is just here;" and then he added" when you have got down be- low, they will all want to buy your ham, for swine's flesh is great rarity there; but you must not sell it for money, so rather ask to exchange it for the old handmill that stands behind the door. When you come up again, l will teach you what to do with the mill; for it hath it's use, can tell you."

 On entering the underground dwelling, everything happened just as the old man had told him. All the imps, great and small, gathered round, and began outbidding each other for the ham,

 "I had intended feasting upon it on holy Christmas eve, with my wife," said the man; l; hut as you seem so bent on having it, I'm williug to part with it, but will not take anything in exchange except the old hand= mill that stands behind tue door,"

 The chief imp did not at all relish parting with his nili, and he began to haggle and bargain with the man, but the latter re- mained firm; so at last the imp vas fain to let him take the mill away. When the man emerged from the underground dwelling he asked the old wood-cutter how he used the mill, and when he told him, he thanked him and returned home; but let him make what speed he wou'd. he did not reach it till twelve o'clock at night.

 "Whcre in the world can you have been!" said his wife, as he came; I've been sit ting here aud waiting hour after hour, and had hot as much as couple of splinters to lay across each other under the grue pot to cook our Christmas dinner"

 "Oh," replied the man, II could not come sooner for had some business to mind, and was obliged to go a loug way about it. But you shall see what have brought home with me-"

 He then placed the mill on the table, and made it grind, first of all, candles; then table cloth; then food and beer-in short, all that was wanted for Christmas feast; and whatever he called for, the mill ground it immediately. His wife stood by and crossed herself many times over, and was very anxious to know hoy her husband had come by the mill But this he took care not to tell,

 "It matters not how got it, wife," said he; "you gee that it is a good mill, whose water does not cease to flow, and that's enough" ......-

 And then he ground eatables and driuka- blcs, and every possible dainty for Christ mas week; and on third day he invited his friends to banquet. When the rich broth CT saw what feast was in preparation, he turned hot and cold with yexation. for he grudged his brother the least windfall.

 "On Christmas eve," said he to the other guests, He was so miserahly poor, he came to ask me for a trifle in Gods name, and now, all of sudden, he is as good as if he had become an earl or king" Then turn ing to his brother, he saids

 "Where on earth did you get all these riches"

 Behind the door," answered the other, who had no mind to let the cat out of the bag. But towards evening, when he had taken drop too much, he could not keep his counsel any longer, but brought ont bis mind, .t

 Here is the golden goose that has brought me all my riches" said be- and made the mill grind first ono thing and then an- other. On seeing this, the brother wanted to buy the mill of him, but the other would not hear of it at first. At length, however, as his brother seemed to wish for it so very much, he said he would take three hundred pounds for it; only he bargained not to part with it till harvest time; for" said he, Eff I keep it till then, l shall be able to grind enough for many year to come"

 During this space of time, we may easily imagine that the mill was not allowed to grow rusty, and when harvest time came, the brother had it given him, only the other had taken good care not to tell him how he was to manage 1t. It was evening when the rich brother brought the mill home, and cn the following morning he told his wife that she might go into the field with the rcapers, and that he would, meanwhile, prepare the dinner. To wards midday, therefore, he placed the mil on the kitchen table.

 "Grind away" said he, ''and let us have some herrings and mess of milk of the best sortT Sn the mill heUan to turn ont her