d sped on as if
drawn by six horses, over thresholds and stairs, up this way and down
that. All of a sudden--crash, crash! with a bound it turned over, upside
down, and lay like a mountain on the top of him. But he tossed the
blankets and pillows in the air, emerged from underneath, and said: "Now
anyone who has the fancy for it may go a drive," lay down at his fire,
and slept till daylight. In the morning the King came, and when he
beheld him lying on the ground he imagined the ghosts had been too much
for him, and that he was dead. Then he said: "What a pity! and such a
fine fellow he was." The youth heard this, got up, and said: "It's not
come to that yet." Then the King was astonished, but very glad, and
asked how it had fared with him. "First-rate," he answered; "and now
I've survived the one night, I shall get through the other two also."
The landlord, when he went to him, opened his eyes wide, and said:
"Well, I never thought to see you alive again. Have you learned now what
shuddering is?" "No," he replied, "it's quite hopeless; if someone could
only tell me how to!"

The second night he went up again to the old castle, sat down at the
fire, and began his old refrain: "If I could only shudder!" As midnight
approached, a noise and din broke out, at first gentle, but gradually
increasing; then all was quiet for a minute, and at length, with a loud
scream, half of a man dropped down the chimney and fell before him. "Hi,
up there!" shouted he; "there's another half wanted down here, that's
not enough"; then the din commenced once more, there was a shrieking
and a yelling, and then the other half fell down. "Wait a bit," he said;
"I'll stir up the fire for you." When he had done this and again looked
around, the two pieces had united, and a horrible-looking man sat on his
seat. "Come," said the youth, "I didn't bargain for that, the seat is
mine." The man tried to shove him away, but the youth wouldn't allow
it for a moment, and, pushing him off by force, sat down in his place
again. Then more men dropped down, one after the other, who fetching
nine skeleton legs and two skulls, put them up and played ninepins with
them. The youth thought he would like to play too, and said: "Look here;
do you mind my joining the game?" "No, not if you have money." "I've
money enough," he replied, "but your balls aren't round enough." Then
he took the skulls, placed them on his lathe, and turned them till they
were round. "Now they'l