dog
yourself, and scare the fellows away from the house.'

The husband was not very sure about this, although otherwise he was
always ready to give in to her.

'Oh yes, you will see it will work all right,' said the wife.

And so towards evening she got the tailor dressed up in a shaggy fur
coat, tied a black woollen cloth round his head, and chained him up
beside the dog's kennel.'

There he stood and barked and growled at everyone that moved in his
neighbourhood. The neighbour wives knew all about this, and were greatly
amused at it.

On the day after this the carpenter had been out at work, and came home
quite merry; but as soon as he entered the house his wife clapped her
hands together and cried, 'My dear, what makes you look like that? You
are ill.'

The carpenter knew nothing about being ill; he only thought that he
wanted something to eat, so he sat down at the table and began his
dinner.

His wife sat straight in front of him, with her hands folded, and shook
her head, and looked at him with an anxious air.

'You are getting worse, my dear,' she said; 'you are quite pale now; you
have a serious illness about you; I can see it by your looks.'

The husband now began to grow anxious, and thought that perhaps he was
not quite well.

'No, indeed,' said she; 'it's high time that you were in bed.'

She then got him to lie down, and piled above him all the bedclothes
she could find, and gave him various medicines, while he grew worse and
worse.

'You will never get over it,' said she; 'I am afraid you are going to
die.'

'Do you think so?' said the carpenter; 'I can well believe it, for I am
indeed very poorly.'

In a little while she said again, 'Ah, now I must part with you. Here
comes Death. Now I must close your eyes.' And she did so.

The carpenter believed everything that his wife said, and so he believed
now that he was dead, and lay still and let her do as she pleased.

She got her neighbours summoned, and they helped to lay him in the
coffin--it was one of those he himself had made; but his wife had bored
holes in it to let him get some air. She made a soft bed under him, and
put a coverlet over him, and she folded his hands over his breast;
but instead of a flower or a psalm-book, she gave him a pint-bottle of
brandy in his hands. After he had lain for a little he took a little
pull at this, and then another and another, and he thought this did
him good, and soon he was sleeping sweetly,