“Here, this looks bad,” thought St. Nicholas, and instantly went to see the peasant, and said: “See to it; when you start threshing, never take more than a sheaf at a time on the threshing-floor.”

So the peasant set to threshing, and he got six gallons out of every sheaf; all his granaries and lofts were full up with rye, and still there was much left over; he built new storehouses, and filled them full to the flush.

But one day Elijah the Prophet and St. Nicholas were passing by his courtyard, and Elijah glanced up and said: “Why has he built these new granaries? How can he stock them all?”

“They’re full up,” St. Nicholas replied.

“How did he get so much grain?”