had better call again another time.

"Yes, call again to-morrow is always the cry," he said; but he was not
going to be made a fool of, he told her. He was there, and there he
would remain till he got the ground-rent. He had plenty of time to wait.
But when he had finished all the food in his bag, the time hung heavy on
his hands, and then he asked the old lady for the ground-rent again.
She had better pay it now, he said.

"No, she was going to do nothing of the sort," she said. Her words were
as firm as the old fir tree just outside the gates, which was so big
that fifteen men could scarcely span it.

But the youngster climbed right up in the top of it and twisted and
turned it as if it was a willow, and then he asked her if she was going
to pay the ground-rent now.

Yes, she dared not do anything else, and scraped together as much money
as he thought he could carry in his bag. He then set out for home with
the ground-rent, but as soon as he was gone the devil came home. When he
heard that the youngster had gone off with his bag full of money, he
first of all gave his mother a hiding, and then he started after him,
thinking he would soon overtake him.

He soon came up to him, for he had nothing to carry, and now and then he
used his wings; but the youngster had, of course, to keep to the ground
with his heavy bag. Just as the devil was at his heels, he began to jump
and run as fast as he could. He kept his club behind him to keep the
devil off, and thus they went along, the youngster holding the handle
and the devil trying to catch hold of the other end of it, till they
came to a deep valley. There the youngster made a jump across from the
top of one hill to the other, and the devil was in such a hurry to
follow him that he ran his head against the club and fell down into the
valley and broke his leg, and there he lay.

"There is the ground-rent," said the youngster when he came to the
palace, and threw the bag with the money to the king with such a crash
that you could hear it all over the hall.

The king thanked him, and appeared to be well pleased, and promised him
good pay and leave of absence if he wished it, but the youngster wanted
only more work.

"What shall I do now?" he said.

As soon as the king had had time to consider, he told him that he must
go to the hill-troll, who had taken his grandfather's sword. The troll
had a castle by the sea, where no one dared to go.

The youngster put some cart