“What!” said he, “is that the way thou thankest me? Thou shalt at once go into thy coffin again,” and he took him up, threw him into it, and shut the lid. Then came the six men and carried him away again. “I cannot manage to shudder,” said he. “I shall never learn it here as long as I live.”

Then a man entered who was taller than all others, and looked terrible. He was old, however, and had a long white beard. “Thou wretch,” cried he, “thou shalt soon learn what it is to shudder, for thou shalt die.”

“Not so fast,” replied the youth. “If I am to die, I shall have to have a say in it.”

“I will soon seize thee,” said the fiend.

“Softly, softly, do not talk so big. I am as strong as thou art, and perhaps even stronger.”

“We shall see,” said the old man. “If thou art stronger, I will let thee go⁠—come, we will try.” Then he led him by dark passages to a smith’s forge, took an axe, and with one blow struck an anvil into the ground.