st help him to find some means to getting rid of this
strong fellow, for he durst not give him his leave. She sent for the
steward, and it was arranged that next day all the men should go to the
forest for fire-wood, and that they should make a bargain among them,
that the one who came home last with his load should be hanged. They
thought they could easily manage that it would be Hans who would lose
his life, for the others would be early on the road, while Hans would
certainly oversleep himself. In the evening, therefore, the men sat and
talked together, saying that next morning they must set out early to
the forest, and as they had a hard day's work and a long journey before
them, they would, for their amusement, make a compact, that whichever of
them came home last with his load should lose his life on the gallows.
So Hans had no objections to make.

Long before the sun was up next morning, all the twelve men were on
foot. They took all the best horses and carts, and drove off to the
forest. Hans, however, lay and slept on, and the squire said, 'Just let
him lie.'

At last, Hans thought it was time to have his breakfast, so he got up
and put on his clothes. He took plenty of time to his breakfast, and
then went out to get his horse and cart ready. The others had taken
everything that was any good, so that he had a difficulty in scraping
together four wheels of different sizes and fixing them to an old cart,
and he could find no other horses than a pair of old hacks. He did not
know where it lay, but he followed the track of the other carts, and in
that way came to it all right. On coming to the gate leading into the
forest, he was unfortunate enough to break it in pieces, so he took a
huge stone that was lying on the field, seven ells long, and seven ells
broad, and set this in the gap, then he went on and joined the others.
These laughed at him heartily, for they had laboured as hard as they
could since daybreak, and had helped each other to fell trees and put
them on the carts, so that all of these were now loaded except one.

Hans got hold of a woodman's axe and proceeded to fell a tree, but he
destroyed the edge and broke the shaft at the first blow. He therefore
laid down the axe, put his arms round the tree, and pulled it up by the
roots. This he threw upon his cart, and then another and another, and
thus he went on while all the others forgot their work, and stood with
open mouths, gazing at this strange wo