After a short time
the dead man became warm too, and began to move. Then said the youth,
"See, little cousin, have I not warmed thee?" The dead man, however,
got up and cried, "Now will I strangle thee."
"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.
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