Thereupon
he rang the bell, went home, and without saying a word went to bed,
and fell asleep. The sexton's wife waited a long time for her husband,
but he did not come back. At length she became uneasy, and wakened the
boy, and asked, "Dost thou not know where my husband is? He climbed
up the tower before thou didst." "No, I don't know," replied the boy,
"but some one was standing by the sounding hole on the other side of the
steps, and as he would neither give an answer nor go away, I took him for
a scoundrel, and threw him downstairs, just go there and you will see if
it was he. I should be sorry if it were." The woman ran away and found
her husband, who was lying moaning in the corner, and had broken his leg.
She carried him down, and then with loud screams she hastened to the
boy's father. "Your boy," cried she, "has been the cause of a great
misfortune! He has thrown my husband down the steps and made him break his
leg. Take the good-for-nothing fellow away from our house." The father was
terrified, and ran thither and scolded the boy. "What wicked tricks are
these?" said he, "the devil must have put this into thy head.
Pages:
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39