'What!' said he, 'are those all the thanks I get? Back you go into
your coffin then.' So saying, he lifted him up, threw him in, and
fastened down the lid. Then the six men came back and carried the
coffin away.
'I cannot shudder,' he said; 'and I shall never learn it here.'
Just then a huge Man appeared. He was frightful to look at, old, and
with a long white beard.
'Oh, you miserable wight!' he cried. 'You shall soon learn what
shuddering is, for you shall die.'
'Not so fast,' said the Youth. 'If I am to die, I must be present.'
'I will make short work of you,' said the old monster.
'Softly! softly! don't you boast. I am as strong as you, and very
likely much stronger.'
'We shall see about that,' said the Old Man. 'If you are the stronger,
I will let you go. Come; we will try.'
Then he led him through numberless dark passages to a smithy, took an
axe, and with one blow struck one of the anvils into the earth.
'I can better that,' said the Youth, and went to the other anvil. The
Old Man placed himself near to see, and his white beard hung over.
Then the Youth took the axe and split the anvil with one blow,
catching in the Old Man's beard at the same time.
'Now, I have you fast,' said the Youth, 'and you will be the one to
die.'
Then he seized an iron rod, and belaboured the Old Man with it, till
he shrieked for mercy, and promised him great riches if he would stop.
Then the Youth pulled out the axe and released him, and the Old Man
led him back into the castle, and showed him three chests of gold in a
cellar.
'One is for the poor,' he said, 'one for the King, and one for you.'
The clock struck twelve, and the ghost disappeared, leaving the Youth
in the dark.
'I must manage to get out somehow,' he said, and groped about till he
found his way back to his room, where he lay down by the fire and went
to sleep.
Next morning the King came and said: 'Now you must have learnt how to
shudder.'
[Illustration: {Then the Youth took the axe and split the anvil with
one blow, catching in the Old Man's beard at the same time.}]
'No,' said he. 'What can it be? My dead cousin was there, and an Old
Man with a beard came and showed me a lot of gold. But what shuddering
is, that no man can tell me.'
Then said the King: 'You have broken the spell on the castle, and you
shall marry my daughter.'
'That is all very well,' he said; 'but still I don't know what
shuddering is.'
The gold was got out of the castle, and the marriage was celebrated,
but, happy as the young King was, and much as he loved his wife, he
was always saying: 'Oh, if only I could learn to shudder, if only I
could learn to shudder.'
At last his wife was vexed by it, and her waiting-woman said: 'I can
help you; he shall be taught the meaning of shuddering.'
And she went out to the brook which ran through the garden and got a
pail full of cold water and little fishes.
At night, when the young King was asleep, his wife took the coverings
off and poured the cold water over him, and all the little fishes
flopped about him.
Then he woke up, and cried: 'Oh, how I am shuddering, dear wife, how I
am shuddering! Now I know what shuddering is!'