As they were eating the dry bread together, Fred said,
"Kate, did you lock up the house before leaving?"
"No, Fred; you ought to have told me that before."
And her husband answered,
"Well, you must go home at once and lock up the house before we go any
farther, and you might as well bring something more to eat with you, and
I will wait for you here."
So Kate went, and she thought to herself,
"As Fred wants something more to eat, and he does not care much about
butter and cheese, I will bring some dried apples and a jug of vinegar
back with me."
Then she bolted the front door, but the back door she took off its
hinges, and lifted it on her shoulders, thinking that if she had the
door all safe no harm could come to the house. And she took her time on
the way back, and thought to herself, "Fred will have so much the longer
to rest." So when she got back to him, she called out,
"Fred, if the house-door is safe, no harm can come to the house!"
"Oh dear!" cried he, "what a prudent wife have I! to carry away the
back-door, so that any one may get in, and to bolt the front door! It is
too late now to go home, but as you have brought the door so far, you
may carry it on farther."
"All right, I will carry the door, Fred," said she, "but the dried
apples and the vinegar will be too heavy for me; I will hang them on the
door and make it carry them."
Now they went into the wood to look for the thieves, but they could not
find them. When it grew dark they got up into a tree to pass the night
there. No sooner had they settled down when up came the pedlars, some of
those fellows who carry away what should not go with them, and who find
things before they are lost. They laid themselves down directly under
the tree where Fred and Kate were, and they made a fire, and began to
divide their spoil. Then Fred got down on the farther side of the tree
and gathered together some stones, and then got up again, intending to
stone the robbers to death with them. The stones, however, did not hit
them, and they said,
"It will soon be morning; the wind is rising and shaking down the
fir-cones."
Now all the time Kate had the door on her shoulder, and as it weighed
upon her heavily, she thought it must be the dried apples, and she said,
"Fred, I must throw down the dried apples."
"No, Kate, not now," answered he; "we might be discovered."
"Oh dear, Fred, but I must! they weigh me down so!" said she.
"Well then, do it, if you must, in the name of all that's tormenting!"
cried he; and down rolled the apples between the boughs, and the robbers
cried,
"There are birds in this tree!"
After a while, as the door still weighed her down heavily, Kate said, "O
Fred, I must pour away the vinegar;" and he answered,
"No, Kate, you must not do that; we might be discovered."
"Oh dear me, Fred, but I must! it weighs me down so!"
"Then do it, if you must, in the name of all that's tormenting!"
And she poured out the vinegar, so that the men were all besprinkled.
And they said one to another,
"The morning dew is beginning to fall already."
At last Kate began to think that it must really be the door that weighed
so heavy, and she said,
"Fred, I must throw down the door!" and he answered,
"No, Kate, not now; we might be discovered."
"Oh dear me, Fred, but I must! it weighs me down so."
"No, Kate, you must hold it fast."
"O Fred, it's slipping, it's falling!"
"Well then, let it fall in the name of torment!" cried Fred in a
passion. And so it fell with a great crash, and the thieves below cried,
"There is something wrong about this tree!" and they got up in a great
hurry and ran off, leaving their spoil behind them. And early in the
morning when Fred and Kate came down from the tree they got all their
gold again and carried it home.
And when they reached their house again Fred said,
"Now, Kate, you must fall to and be very industrious and work hard."
"All right, Fred, I will go into the field and cut corn," said she.
And when she came into the field she said to herself,
"Shall I eat before I cut, or shall I sleep before I cut? well, I will
eat first." And so she ate, and after that she felt sleepy, but she
began to cut and went on half asleep cutting her own clothes, skirts,
gown, and all, and when she at last woke up and found herself in rags,
she said to herself,
"Is this really I or not? oh dear, it is not I!"
After a while night came on, and Kate ran into the village and knocked
at her husband's door calling out, "Fred!"
"What is it?" said he.
"I want to know if Kate is at home," said she.
"Oh yes," he answered, "she is lying here fast asleep."
So she said to herself, "All right then, I am certainly at home," and
she ran on farther.
Soon she came upon some thieves who were looking about for something to
steal, and she went up to them and offered to help them, and the thieves
thought she knew of a good place and opportunity, and were glad of her
offer. But Kate walked in front of the houses calling out,
"Good people, what have you for us to steal?"
So the thieves thought to themselves, "This will never do," and wished
themselves quit of her. At last they said to her,
"Just at the end of the village there are some turnips in the parson's
field; go and fetch us some."
So Kate went into the field and began to pull some up, but very lazily,
and never raised herself. Presently came by a man who saw her, and
thought she was some evil thing grubbing for the turnips. So he ran
quickly into the village and said to the parson,
"O parson, some evil creature is grubbing in your turnip-field!"
"Oh dear!" answered the parson, "I have a lame foot, I cannot go to
drive it away."
And the man at once offered to take him on his back, and he did so.
Just as they reached the field Kate got up and stood upright.
"Oh, the devil!" cried the parson, and both took to their heels, and the
parson was able, out of his great fear, to run faster with his lame foot
than the man who had carried him on his back with both legs sound.