asked John, when he saw what they were goingto do; "it is very wicked. Leave him to rest in peace, in Christ'sname."
  "Nonsense," replied the two dreadful men. "He has cheated us; heowed us money which he could not pay, and now he is dead we shallnot get a penny; so we mean to have our revenge, and let him lielike a dog outside the church door."
  "I have only fifty dollars," said John, "it is all I possess inthe world, but I will give it to you if you will promise me faithfullyto leave the dead man in peace. I shall be able to get on withoutthe money; I have strong and healthy limbs, and God will always helpme."
  "Why, of course," said the horrid men, "if you will pay his debtwe will both promise not to touch him. You may depend upon that;"and then they took the money he offered them, laughed at him for hisgood nature, and went their way.
  Then he laid the dead body back in the coffin, folded the hands,and took leave of it; and went away contentedly through the greatforest. All around him he could see the prettiest little elves dancingin the moonlight, which shone through the trees. They were notdisturbed by his appearance, for they knew he was good and harmlessamong men. They are wicked people only who can never obtain aglimpse of fairies. Some of them were not taller than the breadth of afinger, and they wore golden combs in their long, yellow hair. Theywere rocking themselves two together on the large dew-drops with whichthe leaves and the high grass were sprinkled. Sometimes thedew-drops would roll away, and then they fell down between the stemsof the long grass, and caused a great deal of laughing and noise amongthe other little people. It was quite charming to watch them atplay. Then they sang songs, and John remembered that he had learntthose pretty songs when he was a little boy. Large speckled spiders,with silver crowns on their heads, were employed to spin suspensionbridges and palaces from one hedge to another, and when the tiny dropsfell upon them, they glittered in the moonlight like shining glass.This continued till sunrise. Then the little elves crept into theflower-buds, and the wind seized the bridges and palaces, andfluttered them in the air like cobwebs.
  As John left the wood, a strong man's voice called after him,"Hallo, comrade, where are you travelling?"
  "Into the wide world," he replied; "I am only a poor lad, I haveneither father nor mother, but God will help me."
  "I am going into the wide world also," replied the stranger;"shall we keep each other company?"
  "With all my heart," he said, and so they went on together. Soonthey began to like each other very much, for they were both good;but John found out that the stranger was much more clever thanhimself. He had travelled all over the world, and could describealmost everything. The sun was high in the heavens when they seatedthemselves under a large tree to eat their breakfast, and at thesame moment an old woman came towards them. She was very old andalmost bent double. She leaned upon a stick and carried on her backa bundle of firewood, which she had collected in the forest; her apronwas tied round it, and John saw three great stems of fern and somewillow twigs peeping out. just as she came close up to them, herfoot slipped and she fell to the ground screaming loudly; poor oldwoman, she had broken her leg! John proposed directly that they shouldcarry the old woman home to her cottage; but the stranger opened hisknapsack and took out a box, in which he said he had a salve thatwould quickly make her leg well and strong again, so that she would beable to walk home herself, as if her leg had never been broken. Andall that he would ask in return was the three fern stems which shecarried in her apron.
  "That is rather too high a price," said the old woman, nodding herhead quite strangely. She did not seem at all inclined to part withthe fern stems. However, it was not very agreeable to lie there with abroken leg, so she gave them to him; and such was the power of theointment, that no sooner had he rubbed her leg with it than the oldmother rose up and walked even better than she had done before. Butthen this wonderful ointment could not be bought at a chemist's.
  "What can you want with those three fern rods?"