h about
little Master Misery and the pit full of gold, and how Misery was shut
in there under the big stone.

The merchant brother listened, and did not forget a word. He could
hardly bear himself for envy, and as for his wife, she was worse. She
looked at the peasant's wife with her beautiful head-dress, and she
bit her lips till they bled.

As soon as they could, they said good-bye and drove off home.

The merchant brother could not bear the thought that his brother was
richer than he. He said to himself, "I will go to the field, and move
the stone, and let Master Misery out. Then he will go and tear my
brother to pieces for shutting him in; and his riches will not be of
much use to him then, even if Misery does not give them to me as a
token of gratitude. Think of my brother daring to show off his riches
to me!"

So he drove off to the field, and came at last to the big stone. He
moved the stone on one side, and then bent over the pit to see what
was in it.

He had scarcely put his head over the edge before Misery sprang up out
of the pit, seated himself firmly on his shoulders, squeezed his neck
between his little wiry legs, and pulled out handfuls of his hair.

"Scream away!" cried little Master Misery. "You tried to kill me,
shutting me up in there, while you went off and bought fine clothes.
You tried to kill me, and came to feast your eyes on my corpse. Now,
whatever happens, I'll never leave you again."

"Listen, Misery!" screamed the merchant. "Ai, ai! stop pulling my
hair. You are choking me. Ai! Listen. It was not I who shut you in
under the stone...."

"Who was it, if it was not you?" asked Misery, tugging out his hair,
and digging his knees into the merchant's throat.

"It was my brother. I came here on purpose to let you out. I came out
of pity."

Misery tugged the merchant's hair, and twisted the merchant's ears
till they nearly came off.

"Liar, liar!" he shouted in his little, wretched, angry voice. "You
tricked me once. Do you think you'll get the better of me again by a
clumsy lie of that kind? Now then. Gee up! Home we go."

And so the rich brother went trotting home, crying with pain; while
little Master Misery sat firmly on his shoulders, pulling at his
hair.

Instantly Misery was at his old tricks.

"You seem to have bought a good deal with the gold," he said, looking
at the merchant's house. "We'll see how far it will go." And every day
he rode the rich merchant to the tavern