id, "_Poor_ Claus, did you say, brother? Do you
not see the witch-hazel lying on the ground beside him?"

The one raven said, "Oh yes; I see that, but what good does it do him?"

And the other raven said, "It does him no good now, but if he were to go
home again and strike on the great stone on the top of the hill back of
Herr Axel's house, then it would do him good; for in it lies a great
treasure of silver and gold."

Claus had picked up his ears at all this talk, you may be sure. "See,"
said he, "that is the way that a man will pass by a great fortune in the
little world at home to seek for a little fortune in the great world
abroad"--which was all very true. After that he lost no time in getting
back home again.

"What! are you back again?" said Hans.

"Oh yes," said Claus, "I am back again."

"That is always the way with a pewter penny," said Hans--for that is how
some of us are welcomed home after we have been away.

As for Claus, he was as full of thoughts as an egg is of meat, but he
said nothing of them to Hans. Off he went to the high hill back of Herr
Axel's house, and there, sure enough, was the great stone at the very
top of the hill.

Claus struck on the stone with his oaken staff, and it opened like the
door of a beer vault, for all was blackness within. A flight of steps
led down below, and down the steps Claus went. But when he had come to
the bottom of the steps, he stared till his eyes were like great round
saucers; for there stood sacks of gold and silver, piled up like bags of
grain in the malt-house.

[Illustration: Claus and the Manikin]

At one end of the room was a great stone seat, and on the seat sat a
little manikin smoking a pipe. As for the beard of the little man, it
was as long as he was short, for it hung down so far that part of it
touched the stone floor.

"How do you find yourself, Claus?" said the little manikin, calling
Claus by his name.

"So good!" said Claus, taking off his hat to the other.

"And what would you like to have, Claus?" said the little man.

"I would like," said Claus, "to have some money, if you please."

"Take what you want," said the little man, "only do not forget to take
the best with you."

Oh no; Claus would not forget the best; so he held the staff tighter
than ever in his fist--for what could be better than the staff that
brought him there? So he went here and there, filling his pockets with
the gold and silver money till they bulged out