ut. The wolves
were right upon them, but now they stopped to examine that which was
thrown on the ice, and the travellers again had the start of them.

"'If this does not help you,' said the old woman, 'you understand, of
course, that I will give myself up to the wolves voluntarily, that you
may escape.'

"While she was speaking the man was trying to push a heavy brewer's vat
from the long sledge. As he tugged at this he paused, as if he could not
quite make up his mind to throw it out; but, in reality, his mind was
taken up with something altogether different.

"'Surely a man and a horse who have no infirmities need not let a feeble
old woman be devoured by wolves for their sakes!' he thought. 'There
must be some other way of salvation. Why, of course, there is! It's only
my stupidity that hinders me from finding the way.'

"Again he started to push the vat, then paused once more and burst out
laughing.

"The old woman was alarmed and wondered if he had gone mad, but the man
from Hede was laughing at himself because he had been so stupid all the
while. It was the simplest thing in the world to save all three of them.
He could not imagine why he had not thought of it before.

"'Listen to what I say to you, Malin!' he said. 'It was splendid of you
to be willing to throw yourself to the wolves. But you won't have to do
that because I know how we can all three be helped without endangering
the life of any. Remember, whatever I may do, you are to sit still and
drive down to Linsaell. There you must waken the townspeople and tell
them that I'm alone out here on the ice, surrounded by wolves, and ask
them to come and help me.'

"The man waited until the wolves were almost upon the sledge. Then he
rolled out the big brewer's vat, jumped down, and crawled in under it.

"It was a huge vat, large enough to hold a whole Christmas brew. The
wolves pounced upon it and bit at the hoops, but the vat was too heavy
for them to move. They could not get at the man inside.

"He knew that he was safe and laughed at the wolves. After a bit he was
serious again.

"'For the future, when I get into a tight place, I shall remember this
vat, and I shall bear in mind that I need never wrong either myself or
others, for there is always a third way out of a difficulty if only one
can hit upon it.'"

With this Bataki closed his narrative.

The boy noticed that the raven never spoke unless there was some special
meaning back of his word