ve travelled with an angel many a day, I dare say, and never knew
it.

That night the servant lodged with the widow and her son, and the next
day he started back home again upon the way he had travelled before.
By evening he had reached the place where the house of the poor couple
stood--the house that he had seen the angel set fire to. There he beheld
masons and carpenters hard at work hacking and hewing, and building a
fine new house. And there he saw the poor man himself standing by giving
them orders. "How is this," said the travelling servant; "I thought that
your house was burned down?"

"So it was, and that is how I came to be rich now," said the one-time
poor man. "I and my wife had lived in our old house for many a long
day, and never knew that a great treasure of silver and gold was hidden
beneath it, until a few days ago there came an angel and burned it down
over our heads, and in the morning we found the treasure. So now we are
rich for as long as we may live."

The next morning the poor servant jogged along on his homeward way more
sad and downcast than ever, and by evening he had come to the robbers'
den in the thick woods, and there the old woman came running to the door
to meet him. "Come in!" cried she; "come in and welcome! The robbers are
all dead and gone now, and I use the treasure that they left behind to
entertain poor travellers like yourself. The other day there came an
angel hither, and with him he brought the ring of discord that breeds
spite and rage and quarrelling. He gave it to the captain of the band,
and after he had gone the robbers fought for it with one another until
they were all killed. So now the world is rid of them, and travellers
can come and go as they please."

Back jogged the travelling servant, and the next day came to the town
and to the house of the sorrowful young man. There, lo and behold!
Instead of being dark and silent, as it was before, all was ablaze
with light and noisy with the sound of rejoicing and merriment. There
happened to be one of the household standing at the door, and he knew
the servant as the companion of that one who had stolen the ruby ring.
Up he came and laid hold of the servant by the collar, calling to his
companions that he had caught one of the thieves. Into the house they
hauled the poor servant, and into the same room where he had been
before, and there sat the young man at a grand feast, with his wife
and all his friends around him. But